,,,,,,,,Osama bin Laden was in contact with Iraqi government - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[igor1]

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Osama bin Laden was in contact with Iraqi government agents from his base in Afghanistan in the days leading up to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S., the Washington Times reported Friday, citing U.S. intelligence officials.

According to the report on the newspaper`s Web site, one official said "this is the basis for signs of state sponsorship."

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the intelligence of direct Iraqi government contacts with bin Laden is one of several pieces pointing to Iraq`s involvement in the attacks, according to the report.

According to the report, the officials said bin Laden`s contacts with the Iraqi government were detected before the attacks.

The Washington Times said it was told by officials that there are indications that bin Laden is preparing to flee Afghanistan and set up operations in the African nation of Somalia.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires 21-09-01

[igor1]

AFX-Focus) 2001-09-21 22:11 GMT: Three arrested in UK over US terrorist attacks
LONDON (AFX) - Anti-terrorist police in London has arrested two men and one woman in connection with last week`s attacks on the World Trade Center, Scotland Yard said.
pk/vh

[hassardeur]

Komisch,

zunächst waren die Geheimdienste nicht in der Lage auch nur den kleinsten Verdacht eines Anschlags auszumachen und nun behauptet man ALLES zu wissen.
Auch das Gesagte entspricht nicht immer der Wahrheit, wie bei der Bombardierung der angeblichen Giftgasfabrik (war es im Sudan?). Spätere Nachforschungen ergaben, dass es KEINE Giftgasfabrik war, sondern ausschließlich Medikamente hergestellt wurden. Zum Zeitpunkt des Anschlags war sich die USA dessen auch bewußt, nur glaubte man halt dadurch ein Zeichen setzen müssen.

[igor1]

`The snake is America and we have to stop them. We have to cut the head and stop them.`- Osama bin Laden, according to former follower Jamal Ahmed Mohamed al-Fadl --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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`With their extreme views, they appear much more like a cult than a religion.`- Matt Devost,
president of Terrorism Research Center

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The Taliban and bin Laden have a symbiotic relationship. Bin Laden gets safe haven and in return he gives the Taliban help in fighting its civil war.`- CIA director George Tenet

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[igor1]

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Bin Laden `aide` hid in Manchester Email this to a Friend

A LIBYAN alleged to be a leading member of Osama bin Laden`s terrorist organisation lived in Manchester as a political refugee before fleeing the UK last year.
Anas al-Libi stayed at a house in the city before leaving the country when his name was added to the FBI`s most wanted list.

He had fled by the time Special Branch raided his home on behalf of the FBI.

Now the FBI is offering a £3.3m reward for information about al-Libi. He is accused of helping bomb US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing more than 220 people.

The Libyan is thought to be a leading light in bin Laden`s al-Qaida organisation, whose terrorists he trained at camps in Pakistan.

When police raided his Manchester home last year, they found a computer disc containing the 180-page terrorist manual ``Military Studies in the Jihad Against Tyrants``.

It gives details on killing, using explosives and torture, producing counterfeit documents and money, finding hiding places and developing means of communication.

Security sources think al-Libi is now in Afghanistan, where bin Laden is in hiding.

The 37-year-old is believed to have been the surveillance and computer expert in bin Laden`s al-Qa`eda and it is thought he sat on its Shura council, which planned terrorist attacks.

He was one of a group of Libyan al-Qa`eda members thrown out of Sudan in the early 1990s. They were given money and air tickets by bin Laden, who was later forced out of Sudan himself.

Al-Libi went to Qatar before arriving in London in 1995, where he was given political asylum.

Only months earlier he had visited Nairobi, Kenya, and carried out the surveillance operation for the murderous plot undertaken four years later.

He posed as a tourist, taking dozens of photographs, which he personally delivered to bin Laden in Afghanistan.

The two men then discussed mass murder, pointing to the photographs which showed the spot where a bomb could be exploded for maximum carnage.

The terrorist manual found in the house in Manchester and handed over to the FBI has a section devoted to ``Blasting and Destroying Embassies``.

Advice is also given to terrorists to be always ``tranquil and calm`` as they go about maiming and killing their victims.

[igor1]

Taliban Again Say Shot Down Unmanned Spy Plane
By Sheree Sardar



ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Mystery surrounded a downed aircraft in northern Afghanistan on Saturday as the ruling Taliban issued contradictory statements on whether it was an opposition helicopter or an unmanned U.S. spy plane.

In the latest twist, the Taliban ambassador in Islamabad, Mullah Abdul Saleem Zaeef, told Reuters the craft was an unmanned plane that was apparently taking pictures when it was shot down in northern Afghanistan.

That contradicted the Information Ministry in Kabul, which had earlier said its forces had shot down a helicopter belonging to the opposition Northern Alliance.

A Northern Alliance spokesman in the Tajik capital Dushanbe told Reuters the downed craft could not be one of its helicopters because none had been in the area for the past three days.

Zaeef said the aircraft was not badly damaged when it came down near Tashqarghan in Samangan province, north of the Hindu Kush mountain range separating the north from the capital Kabul.

``There is no passenger seat and no pilot`s seat,`` he said. ``It made two or three rounds in the area before being shot down. It was probably taking pictures.``

He said people who had seen the craft were not aviation experts and could not say if it had any distinctive markings. They said it was lightly damaged near its front.

Earlier, an Information Ministry official told Reuters: ``It is a helicopter, we shot it down. As yet we don`t know how many people were on it.``

CONTRADICTORY REPORTS

The confusion began early on Saturday when the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted Taliban sources as saying they had downed a pilotless aircraft over Samangan province.

The Gulf-based television station Al-Jazeera said in a report in Dubai that the aircraft was American.

The Kabul ministry official said the helicopter had been shot down near Dara-i-Suf in Samangan, around 240 km (150 miles) northwest of Kabul.

The area was the scene on Friday of fierce fighting between Taliban fighters and Northern Alliance forces. The Taliban control 95 percent of the country, with the opposition holed up in a small northern redoubt.

Both sides have a small number of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

With the threat of United States retaliation looming, the Taliban last week declared all Afghan air space off limits, although defense experts say they have little capacity to enforce the ban.

The United States is gearing up for a massive military operation against what it calls an international terrorism network following the devastating attacks on New York and Washington on September 11.

Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, who lives as a ``guest`` of Afghanistan`s Taliban, is the chief suspect and the United States has vowed to track him down and punish his protectors.

Washington frequently uses ``drones`` to fly observation and spy missions over Iraq, but the aircraft do not generally have defensive capabilities and made up the majority of planes shot down by Baghdad since the Gulf War.

Soleh Muhammad Registani, the Alliance`s military attache in Moscow who is currently based in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, told Reuters: ``We have not had a flight to Dara-i-Suf in Samangan in the past three days. We have not lost a helicopter.``

The Taliban control 95 percent of Afghanistan and the Alliance holds a small redoubt in the mountainous northeast.

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Australian mosque burned to ground

Leaders of Australia`s Islamic community have called for regular police patrols of Muslim buildings and schools after a Brisbane mosque was destroyed by fire.

A taxi driver alerted fire officers to the suspected arson attack on the timber and iron building on Friday night.

Officers are at the scene trying to establish the cause.

Queensland state Premier Peter Beattie visited the burned-out mosque and called for religious tolerance.

The latest incident is one of a number involving Queensland mosques and schools since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

"I went personally as a clear signal that I expect tolerance and that we will not accept acts of violence of this kind," Mr Beattie said.

A mosque in south Brisbane at Holland Park was fire-bombed a week ago but not seriously damaged.

Amjad Mehboob, chief executive officer of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said security arrangements at the Holland Park mosque and another in the city had foiled apparent plans for more attacks.

Mr Mehboob said the Islamic community would ask state premiers throughout Australia for regular police patrols of mosques and Islamic schools.

"It`s heightened the concern of the community in all respects when we were thinking that perhaps things would have subsided now," he said.

[igor1]

LONDON: London`s Muslims went to prayers under tight security on Friday fearing they will be the target of reprisals after last week`s terrorist attacks in the United States. "Some Muslims are panicking, especially when it`s time to go to the mosque," said 40-year-old Muhammed Rahman as Muslims rushed to London`s main place of worship near Regents Park under heightened police protection.

"There are fanatics in this country as well," he said, referring to the extreme right British National Party. Since last week`s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington which killed several thousand people, several attacks have targetted Britain`s Muslims, who count for two million of Britain`s 60 million population.

"The atmosphere is tense," said Aisha, a young Muslim journalist who had been sent by the BBC to the mosque. Police said they were trying to maintain a discreet presence at the mosque. Only four officers can be seen in front of the mosque building. "We are trying not to be too numerous in front of the building, but we are enough... Anyway, behind the Mosque a lot of people are waiting, just in case," one police officer said.

Amid resentment against Britain`s Muslim community several mosques have been daubed with graffiti, bricks have been thrown at others, an Afghan taxi driver is paralysed from the neck down after a beating, and women wearing the Muslim headscarf known as a hajib have been attacked. The moderate Muslim Council of Britain says Osama bin Laden, chief suspect for last week`s suicide plane attacks in the United States, could be labelled a terrorist without reference to his faith.

[igor1]

kranke welt

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Capture or kill order on Bin Laden



Special forces troops have begun a secret mission to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the US terror strikes, it was reported.

Senior US and Pakistani officials said the Special Operations Forces had begun moving into countries bordering Afghanistan, where the terrorist was in hiding, the newspaper USA Today said.

Teams of soldiers were expected to start entering Afghanistan`s mountainous regions within days to try to locate bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in caves or underground bunkers.

The teams of three to five camouflaged soldiers were believed to involve American troops, although military experts have said Britain`s elite SAS forces would be involved in the planning or execution of any special forces mission.

The SAS, which is expected to spearhead the UK operation, has four squadrons of around 50 highly skilled soldiers, each split into groups trained for different specialist roles.

Only in major operations such as the Falklands War are entire squadrons deployed together, and the whole force is never put into action at once.

A special operations command centre has been set up in the region to coordinate the mission, the officials said. They said bin Laden was believed to be in south west Afghanistan.

[igor1]

WASHINGTON (AP)--The U.S. committed more aircraft to the Gulf as Afghanistan snubbed a demand from President George W. Bush to turn over Osama bin Laden and others blamed for last week`s death and awesome destruction.

"This is not the time for negotiations or discussions," Bush`s spokesman warned.

One day after Bush delivered a nationally televised message of reassurance and resolve came a freshly sobering warning about more terrorist attacks.

"Everybody knows that if you take a look at this group and Osama bin Laden that there will be a next attack. ... It`s not a matter of if, but when," said Sen. Pat Roberts, emerging from an FBI briefing.

Bush plans to sign an executive order naming terrorist organizations and specific terrorists around the world and freezing their U.S. assets, said a senior administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity.

[igor1]

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The United States pursued its biggest military mobilization since the 1991 Gulf War Saturday as President Bush prepared to strike after Afghanistan refused to surrender Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in last week`s attack on America.

Bush, who has vowed to wage a global "war on terrorism" and states supporting it, was due to chair another meeting of his National Security Council by teleconference from his Camp David retreat in Maryland later in the day.

"The president has made it abundantly clear that this nation is preparing for war, because war has been declared against the United States," Bush`s spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Friday.

Bush had put Afghanistan`s Taliban rulers "on notice" and was "preparing to do what must inevitably come next," he said.

U.S. defense officials said about a dozen more aircraft, including refueling planes, would soon move to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean -- within range of Afghanistan -- to join nearly 350 warplanes at land bases and on two aircraft carriers.

B-1 and B-52 heavy bombers as well as troops of the elite Army Special Operations Command were also under orders to move to the region, although there was no immediate indication they had begun deploying.

The U.S. assault ship Essex left Sasebo naval base in Japan Saturday and was expected to head for the Indian Ocean, Kyodo news agency said. The carrier USS Kitty Hawk, which carries about 70 aircraft, left its home port near Tokyo Friday.

Tens of thousands of Afghans have fled cities and towns and headed for the relative safety of the countryside in anticipation of a U.S. military strike following the Sept. 11 hijacked airliner attacks that left some 6,800 people dead or missing.

Aid agencies in Kabul said the impoverished country faced a humanitarian crisis, with essential supplies likely to run out within a month after Pakistan and Iran sealed their borders.

The Taliban Friday rejected an ultimatum from Bush to hand over bin Laden, based in Afghanistan as their "guest," without evidence the Saudi-born militant masterminded the suicide attacks on New York and Washington.

The hard-line Islamic movement vowed to resist any assault from the world`s mightiest armed forces, defying a warning that failure to comply would be met with retribution.

"It would be a showdown of might," Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, the Taliban envoy to Pakistan, told reporters in Islamabad. "We will never surrender to evil and might."



POLL POINTS TO RECESSION

The twin threats of war and recession have loomed ever larger over the world economy since the airliner attacks, which leveled the 110-story twin towers of New York`s World Trade Center and blew a hole in the Pentagon outside Washington.

A fourth hijacked plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

Wall Street ended its worst week since the 1930s Great Depression, with the benchmark Dow Jones industrial average down 14.2 percent after a five-day stampede out of equities.

Congress acted late Friday to aid another victim of the attacks: the airlines. The Senate and House approved a $15 billion rescue plan for the industry.

With many American and other travelers terrified of flying, airlines have cut flight schedules by about 20 percent and announced job cuts of more than 100,000 since the attacks.

In a Reuters poll of 25 leading Wall Street brokers, all but one said the economy was now in recession and most did not expect a recovery before the first half of 2002.

Bush, in a hard-hitting address to Congress on Thursday, portrayed the conflict with bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization as a fight to safeguard civilization and told foreign governments:

"Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

Overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey, a NATO member, and the Philippines both pledged logistical support to the United States Saturday in any response to the attacks.

Ankara said it would allow U.S. transport aircraft to use Turkish airspace and air bases, while Manila said U.S. air force planes would be allowed to refuel in the Philippines.

In a potential setback for Bush, however, Saudi Arabia was resisting a U.S. request to use a key new command center on a Saudi-located base in any air campaign, according to the Washington Post.

Quoting unidentified U.S. defense officials, it said Saudi resistance to use of the Prince Sultan Air Base had forced U.S. military planners to consider moving the operations center to another country, which could delay any air strikes for weeks.

Saudi Arabia was Washington`s foremost Arab ally in 1991 in the successful air and ground war when a U.S.-led international coalition expelled Iraqi occupying forces from Kuwait.

It is one of just three countries, along with Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, that recognized the Taliban.

In a diplomatic boost for Bush, the UAE`s official news agency WAM said the government had cut ties with the Taliban after failing to persuade the Kabul government to hand over bin Laden for what it called a fair international trial.

A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said Islamabad played a key role in communicating between Kabul and the rest of the world and had no plans to follow the UAE.

Three people were shot dead, one died of a heart attack and dozens were arrested Friday as protesters across Pakistan demonstrated against their president`s decision to help Washington track down bin Laden and punish his protectors.

Pakistan`s pro-Taliban religious parties planned further protests Saturday.

Bin Laden denies involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks, the deadliest single assault on U.S. soil.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States had enough evidence to prosecute bin Laden, but might have to capture him to bring him to justice. Bush has said he wants the 44-year-old multimillionaire "dead or alive."

"I think we have enough intelligence information as well as legally sufficient evidence to bring him before an American court," Powell told the BBC`s Newsnight program.

"It might mean that we`re going to have to go find him rather than have him delivered by the Taliban".



GRAVEYARD FOR INVADERS

Afghanistan, a country of rugged, inhospitable terrain, has proved a graveyard for foreign invaders.

Its fearless tribesmen defeated or held off Britain three times between 1839 and 1919, while the Muslim mujahideen (holy warriors) humiliated invaders from the Soviet Union in the 1980s when Moscow was still a superpower.

Brig. Gen. Reinhard Guenzel, the commander of Germany`s special forces, said any operation to snatch bin Laden from Afghanistan could "result in a bloodbath".

"At least for the time being it would be just about impossible," Guenzel told the online edition of German news magazine Der Spiegel in an interview.

"There`s no special force in the west that would agree to such an operation," he said, adding his view was shared by the special forces of the United States, Israel, France and Britain.

In New York, workers battling underground fires in the ruins of the World Trade Center turned to more heavy equipment in an apparent tacit admission that hope of finding alive any of the 6,333 missing was all but lost.

There were also signs the city, the financial heart of global capitalism, was slowly returning to some semblance of normalcy after the horrors and shock of the attacks.

About 35,000 people chanting "USA" turned out at Shea Stadium for the first Major League Baseball game in the city since the attacks. The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2.

Mets players wore caps honoring the city`s fire department, police and emergency services, the Port Authority police and state court officers. More than 300 firefighters and emergency services workers were among those lost.

In another outpouring of support for those bereaved by the attacks, dozens of stars from the worlds of movies, television and music took part in an unprecedented, commercial-free two-hour telethon dubbed "America: A Tribute to Heroes".

The show, staged to raise money and lift spirits, ran live on at least 31 U.S. broadcast and cable networks and was beamed to 156 countries from studios in New York and Los Angeles

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Heavy fighting was reported between the Taliban militia and opposition forces in northern Afghanistan.

[igor1]

JAKARTA (AP)--Dozens of Muslim students Saturday staged anti U.S. demonstrations in several cities in Indonesia protesting Washington`s plans to launch military attacks against Afghanistan for the Sept.11 terrorist attacks.

More than 200 students rallied in front of the U.S. consulate in Indonesia`s second biggest city of Surabaya in East Java. They held banners saying, "America is the great terrorist" and "Bush is the big boss of terrorists."

Around 70 students burnt the U.S. flag in Palu, Central Sulawesi, 1,500 kilometers (932 miles)northeast of Jakarta. They chanted "Muslim countries unite! Fight back U.S. terrorism!" before dispersing peacefully.

There is rising anti U.S. sentiment in Indonesia whose 210 million people make it the world`s most populous Muslim nation. However, police and analyst say the protests will be small and peaceful. Police also said threats made against U.S. citizens in Indonesia are confined to a few extremist Muslim groups.

[igor1]

SATURDAY 22/09/01 16:47:25
Bin Laden in hiding, claims paper
A Pakistani paper is claiming Osama bin Laden has gone into hiding in the province of Uruzgan in south-western Afghanistan.


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The Dawn claims Afghan sources say bin Laden has moved his three wives and children from his house in Kandahar to the native province of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.

It says bin Laden, who lived near the Afghan Air Force Colony, near Kandahar Airport, vacated his house fearing retaliatory attacks.

He is reported to have been moving between Uruzgan and Helmand provinces.

Sources are also reported as saying that, for external security, bin Laden is protected by 50 to 60 Afghans.

In addition, the paper says 150 arabs have taken oath of allegiance to bin Laden, pledging to protect him with their lives.

[igor1]

Bush ready to name wanted terrorists and their hosts
AP
22 September 2001
President George W. Bush will soon sign an executive order naming terrorist organizations and specific terrorists around the world and freezing their U.S. assets, a senior administration official said today.

The President met advisers at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, this weekend as the Pentagon ordered ships and plans to the Middle East and thousands of reservists stepped back into uniform.

In his weekly radio address, President Bush spoke of the wounded economy, which many economists believe is guaranteed to slip into recession.

"Our economy has had a shock. Many workers lost their jobs this week, especially in the airline and hospitality industries, in restaurants and in tourism, as companies struggle to remain afloat. I applaud those companies who are making extra efforts to avoid laying off workers even during difficult times.

"Many Americans have also seen the value of their stocks decline. Yet, for all these challenges, the American economy is fundamentally strong."

The United States and the Taliban leadership of Afghanistan remained locked on a path toward conflict. Afghanistan`s ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said Saturday an unmanned spy plane was shot down over Tashgurgan Pass in Afghanistan`s northern Samangan province by Taliban soldiers armed with Russian-made anti-aircraft weapons.

"We are still trying to ascertain what country this plane belongs to," Zaeef said.

A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Mike Milord, would not comment on the report."As the Secretary of Defense has said, we will not discuss any operational issues," he said. "We will not respond to each and every statement of the Taliban."

En route to the region from the United States were a third aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers, warships capable of launching ground-attack Tomahawk cruise missiles and jet fighters.

Spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president would chair today`s National Security Council meeting via teleconference from Camp David. Tomorrow, when US flags are returned to full staff for the first time since the attacks, President Bush plans to join Marines at the presidential retreat.

The country is still reeling from the Sept. 11 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon at a probable cost of more than 6,000 lives.

Entertainers from Tom Hanks to Bruce Springsteen united Friday for an extraordinary televised benefit to raise money for victims. The unprecedented event was being shown on more than 30 TV networks, including all the six biggest broadcasters.

Federal prosecutors disclosed that they had charged a man with trying to fly into Chicago from Germany with an illegal passport and ai

[igor1]

MOSCOW (AP)--President Vladimir Putin spoke with U.S. President George W. Bush and convened Russia`s top defense and security officials Saturday to discuss fighting international terrorism.

Putin has been cautious as he considers how deeply to support the U.S. in its war on terrorism, one of the biggest decisions he has faced since taking office last year.

Putin met from morning until early evening Saturday with Russia`s defense minister, interior minister, Security Council chief, the head of Russia`s key intelligence and security agencies and other officials. No immediate results of the talks were released.

During a break in talks, Putin spoke with Bush by telephone, the Kremlin press service said. The two discussed "the situation developing in the world" and their meeting in Shanghai next month, the service said in a terse statement.

"We have always been initiators of the effort to unite the forces of the international community in the battle with terror. If we want to win there is no other way," Putin said during the meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, in comments shown on ORT television. "We must unite forces of all civilized society."

Putin promised to meet with parliamentary leaders to discuss Russia`s strategy, and told the security officials, "I count very much on your recommendations."

A deliberate leader and former KGB agent, Putin prefers to have all options laid out and weigh them carefully when making decisions, especially when the stakes are high.

Putin said in an interview with German media posted on his web site Friday night that Russia is ready to cooperate with the United States "in the widest sense." But he did not elaborate. And he has indicated Russia would not offer troops for any U.S. military action and would not welcome any unilateral decisions by the United States.

Russian officials have also bristled at the prospect of U.S. military presence in former Soviet republics of Central Asia that neighbor Afghanistan. Russia fears that U.S. strikes on Afghanistan from Central Asia could unleash a new round of terrorist attacks in Russia itself and weaken Russian influence in the oil-rich region.

The chief of Russia`s Armed Forces General Staff, Anatoly Kvashnin, was expected to meet Saturday in Tajikistan with the new commander of the Afghan opposition force fighting the ruling Taliban.

[igor1]

US military aircraft land near Afghanistan: reports
There are reports that US military aircraft have landed at a military airport in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, close to Afghanistan.

An Uzbek official says the planes are carrying reconnaissance equipment and are based at the Tuzel air base, just outside the Uzbek capital Tashkent.

Uzbekistan and neighboring Tajikistan, have said they would deny the United States access to its military bases in the case of US military action against Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon says it will neither confirm nor deny the identity of an unmanned spy plane the Taliban say they have shot down over northern Afghanistan.

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DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Afghanistan`s opposition Northern Alliance has said that its forces have made progress against the ruling Taliban militia, killing 50 Taliban soldiers in fighting in the north of the country.


The Alliance made its claim of military victories on Saturday as two of its senior leaders arrived in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan which borders Afghanistan, for talks with Tajik officials.


"On the front line today we continued our operations in two provinces, in the south of Bakhr province and in the south of Samangan province," Soleh Muhammad Registani, the opposition`s Moscow-based military attache who is acting as a spokesman, told reporters.


"We have made 15 km (10 miles) of progress in the last three days. Fifty Taliban have been killed and more than 300 have joined the Northern Alliance side as the Northern Alliance overran their lines," he said.

[igor1]

DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Afghanistan`s opposition Northern Alliance has said that its forces have made progress against the ruling Taliban militia, killing 50 Taliban soldiers in fighting in the north of the country.


The Alliance made its claim of military victories on Saturday as two of its senior leaders arrived in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan which borders Afghanistan, for talks with Tajik officials.


"On the front line today we continued our operations in two provinces, in the south of Bakhr province and in the south of Samangan province," Soleh Muhammad Registani, the opposition`s Moscow-based military attache who is acting as a spokesman, told reporters.


"We have made 15 km (10 miles) of progress in the last three days. Fifty Taliban have been killed and more than 300 have joined the Northern Alliance side as the Northern Alliance overran their lines," he said.

[igor1]

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AFX) - President Emomali Rakhmonov said that his country is "ready to cooperate" with a US-led fight against terrorism, but did not say whether it will directly take part in any US military strikes against neighbouring Afghanistan.
Tajikistan "is ready to cooperate with the international community, including the American government, in the struggle against terrorism and international extremism," Rakhmonov said at the opening of the country`s Democratic Party Congress.

[alpenland]

General hält Festnahme Bin Ladens für
«so gut wie unmöglich»
Hamburg (AP) Der Kommandeur des Bundeswehr-Kommandos Spezialkräfte (KSK), Brigadegeneral Reinhard Günzel, hält eine Festnahme des Topterroristen Osama Bin Laden zumindest zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt für so gut wie unmöglich». Im Interview der Online-Ausgabe des Nachrichtenmagazins «Spiegel» betonte er am Freitag, darin herrsche «unter den Spezialkräften Amerikas, Israels,Frankreichs und Großbritanniens weitgehend uebereinstimmende Auffassung». Eine Operation von Sonderkommandos gegen den bis zu 200 Mann starken Schutzkräfte-Kordon Bin Ladens «würde ein Blutbad geben», erklärte der General. «Keine Spezialeinheit der westlichen Welt könnte einem solchen Einsatz zustimmen.» Allerdings habe sich die Welt seit dem Terroranschlag vergangener Woche verändert, sagte Günzel, «und ich vermute, damit auch die Risikobereitschaft der Politiker». Wenn es künftig darum gehe, das Leben von Tausenden zu retten, werde wohl eher der Tod von speziell zur Terrorismusbekämpfung ausgebildeten Soldaten in Kauf genommen.

Die Israelis könnten bei einem eventuellen Zugriff noch am ehesten Erfolg haben, weil sie sich in einer islamischen Kultur unauffällig bewegen könnten, meinte Günzel. Zu einem möglichen Einsatz der KSK in Afghanistan sagte er, die Amerikaner bräuchten die Deutschen nicht dazu. Eine deutsche Beteiligung wäre mehr ein politisches Signal.

[igor1]

WTC Attack: $5m Bounty





A $5m reward has been offered for information about the World Trade Centre and Pentagon terror attacks.

US State Department`s Diplomatic Security Service has put up the bounty in an attempt to get more information about the leading figures and groups behind the strikes.


Relocation

Witness protection and relocation programmes will be arranged for anyone who can give vital details that will lead to capture and prosecution of those responsible for masterminding the worst terrorist attack in history.

The £3.6m reward is offered on the department`s website under the banner `Mass Murder`.

It says: "During the morning of September 11, 2001, two hijacked commercial airliners were used to attack the World Trade Center in New York City. Another hijacked airliner was used to attack the Pentagon. A fourth plane was hijacked but crashed before reaching its target.

Individuals providing information may be eligible for a reward of up to $5 million, protection of identities and relocation with their families. If you have any information and are overseas, contact the nearest US embassy or consulate."

`Dead or alive`

A $5m reward was already on offer for information leading to the capture of the US government`s prime suspect, Osama bin Laden, who President George Bush said was "wanted, dead or alive", the New York Post reported.

Anyone with information is urged to contact: Rewards for Justice P.O. Box 96781Washington, D.C. 20090-6781, USA.

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ISMAILIYA, Egypt (AP)--Twelve warships and a submarine passed through the Suez Canal Saturday in a steady buildup of U.K. forces in the Gulf ahead of two-week war games with Oman set for mid-October.

The U.K. has offered to contribute to a military force that the U.S. is assembling for a campaign against terrorists, but says these war games are not directly related to that campaign.

The U.K. fleet included 12 ships and one submarine, the HMS Superb.

A total of 25 ships are expected to be deployed in the region, in addition to ground troops and warplanes. It is the biggest deployment of Royal Navy ships since the 1982 Falklands War.

Some 14,000 Omani soldiers and 24,000 U.K. soldiers are expected to participate in the exercises, which will be held 261 miles south of the capital, Muscat.

Troops from both nations will practice quick deployment of air, land and sea forces, Omani officials have said.

A U.K. frigate, the HMS Cornwall, passed through the Suez Canal Friday on its way to the Gulf, the first passage by a western warship since last week`s attacks in New York and Washington.

Security was tight at the canal crossing, with police boats escorting the British ships along the way.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the U.S. has ordered the deployment of up to 130 warplanes and about 2,000 Marines to the Gulf. A naval battle group led by the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt left the U.S. on Wednesday, bound for the Mediterranean.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - In a move that strengthens the United States` position in its hunt for Osama bin Laden, the United Arab Emirates cut relations Saturday with Afghanistan`s Taliban government. A Saudi official said his kingdom was considering doing the same.

The Emirates` decision came after the Persian Gulf state proved unable to persuade the Taliban to hand over bin Laden, the United States` prime suspect in Sept. 11`s terror attacks, said the official Emirates News Agency.

The Emirates` move - and Saudi Arabia`s if it follows suit - leaves the Taliban ever more isolated in its showdown with the United States over surrendering bin Laden, a Saudi exile believed to operate from bases in Afghanistan.

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WASHINGTON, SEP. 22, SPA -- THE COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS (CAIR), A WASHINGTON-BASED ISLAMIC ADVOCACY GROUP, TODAY CONDEMNED AN INCIDENT ON THURSDAY IN MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, IN WHICHTHREE ARAB-AMERICAN PASSENGERS WERE KICKED OFF A NORTHWEST AIRLINES FLIGHT BECAUSE OTHER PASSENGERS REFUSED TO FLY WITH THEM.

`THIS IS RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS PROFILING OF THE WORST KIND. BOTH THE PASSENGERS AND THE AIRPLANE PERSONNEL SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEIR ACTIONS,` SAID CAIR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NIHAD AWAD. AWAD ADDED THAT CAIR HAS RECEIVED MORE THAN 500 REPORTS OF ANTI-MUSLIM DISCRIMINATION, INCLUDING THREE DEATHS, FOLLOWING THE TERRORISTS ATTACKS ON NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - In the days before the Persian Gulf War began a decade ago, the roads out of Baghdad were crammed with cars, vans, buses and even tractors - all carrying Iraqis fleeing in fear of a U.S. attack.

Memories of those days are coming back to Iraqis now as they follow news from Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban`s rejection of American demands to hand over suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants have sparked a massive flight toward the borders.

Fadil Abdel Aziz, a 58-year-old retiree, recalled taking his wife and two children 40 miles outside Baghdad to stay with relatives a day before the allied airstrikes on Iraq began on Jan. 17, 1991. His family was displaced for a month, he said Saturday.

With President Bush vowing an exhaustive campaign against terrorism worldwide, Abdel Aziz is wondering whether he may have to leave Baghdad again.

``We are hoping to see wisdom overshadow force,`` Abdel Aziz said. ``Americans now have seen what it means to be bombed or relocated from your own home. For us, we hope not to repeat the experience again.``

Iraq has for years been on the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism, and it has plenty of targets for U.S. attention, including weapons factories President Saddam Hussein is suspected of rebuilding after the Persian Gulf War.

U.S. officials have said some senior administration officials want Baghdad to be among early targets in the campaign against the network of bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

And conservatives inside and outside the American government are urging that U.S. military forces now being assembled in the region for the anti-terrorism campaign move against Iraq regardless of whether it was involved in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Ahmed Mustafa Al-Mousawi, assistant dean of the Education College of Baghdad, said Iraq is not the threat it was in 1991. He repeated the government`s claims that Iraq was not involved in the Sept. 11 attacks and that it has complied with U.N. orders to scrap all efforts to develop nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

However, the United Nations says it cannot determine whether that is true because Iraq has expelled U.N. weapons inspectors or limited the sites they can review. U.N. sanctions on Iraq can be lifted only after inspectors certify that its weapons of mass destruction have been eliminated.

In letters to American anti-sanctions activists, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz has expressed Iraq`s sorrow at the loss of life in the terror attacks. But Saddam has said the United States brought the suffering on itself by pursuing pro-Israeli and anti-Iraqi policies that angered Arabs.

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Robert Fisk: How can the US bomb this tragic people?

We are witnessing this weekend one of the most epic events since the Second World War, certainly since Vietnam. I am not talking about the ruins of the World Trade Centre in New York and the grotesque physical scenes which we watched on 11 September, an atrocity which I described last week as a crime against humanity (of which more later). No, I am referring to the extraordinary, almost unbelievable preparations now under way for the most powerful nation ever to have existed on God`s Earth to bomb the most devastated, ravaged, starvation-haunted and tragic country in the world. Afghanistan, raped and eviscerated by the Russian army for 10 years, abandoned by its friends – us, of course – once the Russians had fled, is about to be attacked by the surviving superpower.

I watch these events with incredulity, not least because I was a witness to the Russian invasion and occupation. How they fought for us, those Afghans, how they believed our word. How they trusted President Carter when he promised the West`s support. I even met the CIA spook in Peshawar, brandishing the identity papers of a Soviet pilot, shot down with one of our missiles – which had been scooped from the wreckage of his Mig. "Poor guy," the CIA man said, before showing us a movie about GIs zapping the Vietcong in his private cinema. And yes, I remember what the Soviet officers told me after arresting me at Salang. They were performing their international duty in Afghanistan, they told me. They were "punishing the terrorists" who wished to overthrow the (communist) Afghan government and destroy its people. Sound familiar?

I was working for The Times in 1980, and just south of Kabul I picked up a very disturbing story. A group of religious mujahedin fighters had attacked a school because the communist regime had forced girls to be educated alongside boys. So they had bombed the school, murdered the head teacher`s wife and cut off her husband`s head. It was all true. But when The Times ran the story, the Foreign Office complained to the foreign desk that my report gave support to the Russians. Of course. Because the Afghan fighters were the good guys. Because Osama bin Laden was a good guy. Charles Douglas-Home, then editor of The Times would always insist that Afghan guerrillas were called "freedom fighters" in the headline. There was nothing you couldn`t do with words.

And so it is today. President Bush now threatens the obscurantist, ignorant, super-conservative Taliban with the same punishment as he intends to mete out to bin Laden. Bush originally talked about "justice and punishment" and about "bringing to justice" the perpetrators of the atrocities. But he`s not sending policemen to the Middle East; he`s sending B-52s. And F-16s and AWACS planes and Apache helicopters. We are not going to arrest bin Laden. We are going to destroy him. And that`s fine if he`s the guilty man. But B-52s don`t discriminate between men wearing turbans, or between men and women or women and children.

I wrote last week about the culture of censorship which is now to smother us, and of the personal attacks which any journalist questioning the roots of this crisis endures. Last week, in a national European newspaper, I got a new and revealing example of what this means. I was accused of being anti-American and then informed that anti-Americanism was akin to anti-Semitism. You get the point, of course. I`m not really sure what anti-Americanism is. But criticising the United States is now to be the moral equivalent of Jew-hating. It`s OK to write headlines about "Islamic terror" or my favourite French example "God`s madmen", but it`s definitely out of bounds to ask why the United States is loathed by so many Arab Muslims in the Middle East. We can give the murderers a Muslim identity: we can finger the Middle East for the crime – but we may not suggest any reasons for the crime.

But let`s go back to that word justice. Re-watching that pornography of mass-murder in New York, there must be many people who share my view that this was a crime against humanity. More than 6,000 dead; that`s a Srebrenica of a slaughter. Even the Serbs spared most of the women and children when they killed their menfolk. The dead of Srebrenica deserve – and are getting – international justice at the Hague. So surely what we need is an International Criminal Court to deal with the sorts of killer who devastated New York on 11 September. Yet "crime against humanity" is not a phrase we are hearing from the Americans. They prefer "terrorist atrocity", which is slightly less powerful. Why, I wonder? Because to speak of a terrorist crime against humanity would be a tautology. Or because the US is against international justice. Or because it specifically opposed the creation of an international court on the grounds that its own citizens may one day be arraigned in front of it.

The problem is that America wants its own version of justice, a concept rooted, it seems, in the Wild West and Hollywood`s version of the Second World War. President Bush speaks of smoking them out, of the old posters that once graced Dodge City: "Wanted, Dead or Alive". Tony Blair now tells us that we must stand by America as America stood by us in the Second World War. Yes, it`s true that America helped us liberate Western Europe. But in both world wars, the US chose to intervene after only a long and – in the case of the Second World War – very profitable period of neutrality.

Don`t the dead of Manhattan deserve better than this? It`s less than three years since we launched a 200-Cruise missile attack on Iraq for throwing out the UN arms inspectors. Needless to say, nothing was achieved. More Iraqis were killed, and the UN inspectors never got back, and sanctions continued, and Iraqi children continued to die. No policy, no perspective. Action, not words.

And that`s where we are today. Instead of helping Afghanistan, instead of pouring our aid into that country 10 years ago, rebuilding its cities and culture and creating a new political centre that would go beyond tribalism, we left it to rot. Sarajevo would be rebuilt. Not Kabul. Democracy, of a kind, could be set up in Bosnia. Not in Afghanistan. Schools could be reopened in Tuzla and Travnik. Not in Jaladabad. When the Taliban arrived, stringing up every opponent, chopping off the arms of thieves, stoning women for adultery, the United States regarded this dreadful outfit as a force for stability after the years of anarchy.

Bush`s threats have effectively forced the evacuation of every Western aid worker. Already, Afghans are dying because of their absence. Drought and starvation go on killing millions – I mean millions – and between 20 and 25 Afghans are blown up every day by the 10 million mines the Russians left behind. Of course, the Russians never went back to clear the mines. I suppose those B-52 bombs will explode a few of them. But that`ll be the only humanitarian work we`re likely to see in the near future.

Look at the most startling image of all this past week. Pakistan has closed its border with Afghanistan. So has Iran. The Afghans are to stay in their prison. Unless they make it through Pakistan and wash up on the beaches of France or the waters of Australia or climb through the Channel Tunnel or hijack a plane to Britain to face the wrath of our Home Secretary. In which case, they must be sent back, returned, refused entry. It`s a truly terrible irony that the only man we would be interested in receiving from Afghanistan is the man we are told is the evil genius behind the greatest mass-murder in American history: bin Laden. The others can stay at home and die.

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CHAMAN CROSSING, Pakistan-Afghanistan Border (AP) - Fenced out of Pakistan by a roll of rusty barbed wire, hundreds of Afghan refugees crouched on the barren ground, unprotected against a scorching desert sun, staring bleakly ahead of them.

Some had been here at this desolate border crossing for up to five days, desperate to find shelter from what they believe are inevitable American airstrikes on their homeland, whose leaders have refused to bow to U.S. demands to surrender Osama bin Laden.

On Saturday, a long line of about 1,000 refugees - most of them women and children, the sick and old - waited in a dusty no-man`s land at the border crossing outside the Pakistani city of Chaman, at the foot of the forbidding 7,500-foot Kouzak Mountains.

With Pakistani frontier guards standing watchfully nearby, a few threw quick, furtive responses to journalists on the other side of the barbed-wire barrier: Yes, they were afraid to go back to their homes in Afghanistan. No, they did not know how long they could bear to wait here in these conditions, hoping to cross to safety.

Most of these refugees fled homes in and around the Afghan city of Kandahar, about 70 miles to the northwest. It is the home base of the Taliban, the purist Islamic movement that rules most of Afghanistan.

President Bush says the Taliban must hand over bin Laden - the Saudi exile suspected of masterminding the catastrophic Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon - or share in his fate. So Kandahar is considered a prime potential target, and many of its citizens are terrified.

Umar Gulahmed, a 23-year-old carpenter, fled Kandahar six days ago with his 20-year-old wife, Farzana, and his year-old son, Raza. They managed to make their way across the border and on to Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan`s southwestern Baluchistan province, about 500 miles southwest of Islamabad.

In the week before Monday night, when the border closed, an estimated 15,000 people crossed over into Pakistan at the Chaman crossing, United Nations and Pakistani officials say. Uncounted others have slipped through since, along nearby unguarded desert frontier.

But several thousand of the new arrivals - no reliable figures are available - have been rounded up by Pakistani police and returned to Chaman to be sent home, including the Gulahmed family.

Farzana Gulahmed, swathed in a long, enveloping black veil, knelt in the shade of a shed on the Pakistani side of the border, brushing away flies that clustered at sores on baby Raza`s face, while her husband spoke of their expulsion.

``We are afraid of attacks, and I tried to get my family to safety,`` he said. ``I`m angry, but I`m a poor man - I can`t fight these forces.``

Pushing his way up, a Pakistani policeman gruffly instructed Gulahmed in the border area`s Pashtun language: ``Tell them you are going back to Afghanistan voluntarily.``

With 2 million Afghan refugees already crowded within its borders - the result of two decades of unrelenting warfare that left Afghanistan poor, in ruins, and under the Taliban`s repressive rule - Pakistan already feels overwhelmed. The country simply cannot cope, it says, with what could become a new tidal wave of Afghans fleeing feared or actual fighting.

``We already have so many refugees now,`` said Mohammed Shafi Kakar, the Pakistani district coordination officer at the Chaman crossing. If fighting comes, he said, ``People may rush across the border in a mass, and that will be a big, big problem for us.``

The border was closed to all but those with valid travel documents after the United States asked Pakistan to shut down the flow of supplies to the Taliban. But international agencies, including the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, have urged Afghanistan`s neighbors to reopen their borders to those trying to flee.

The UNHCR last week called for a ``humanitarian coalition`` to share the burden and expense of looking after the refugees. Amnesty International, the London-based human rights organization, warned of an ``unfolding humanitarian crisis`` both inside Afghanistan and in those countries bordering it unless the international community steps in quickly with pledges to help.

Regional officials in Pakistan say they have devised a plan to build 100 new border camps to house one million additional Afghan refugees in the event of a U.S. assault on Afghanistan.

At Chaman, authorities have spread barbed wire about 35 miles in either direction from the crossing point, to keep refugees from simply walking around the border post.

That isn`t keeping refugees out of Pakistan - at night, they cut through the barbed wire and slip across. But only the able-bodied and unencumbered can make their way through the desert terrain in the dark - which is why most of those waiting in the no-man`s land on the other side were women, children, elderly and the sick. Refugees said they had no access to clean water, and the children in particular were suffering from diarrhea and other ailments.

If they cross the border clandestinely, refugees must find a way across the Koujak Mountains, whose steep, bare slopes rise starkly from the desert floor.

Most then head for Quetta, the provincial capital - only 105 miles away, but a three-hour drive on often-rough roads. The route passes by mud-brick settlements, apple orchards - some of them killed by the area`s four-year drought - and forlorn roadside graveyards with Islamic prayer flags fluttering in the desert breeze.

Not everyone passing through Chaman, though, was trying to get into Pakistan. Striding back through the crossing toward the Afghanistan side on Saturday were hundreds of supporters of the Taliban.

``We are going back to Afghanistan to join in the jihad,`` or holy war, said Khan Ahata Norzei, a broken-toothed 20-year-old in a white turban. ``I am fighting for Islam.``

Arriving refugees said the Taliban had moved tanks into position around Kandahar and stepped up patrols by its fighters.

Norzei`s companion, 25-year-old Taleb Seflal - whose first name is the singular of Taliban, which means students or disciples - had brought his family to safety in Pakistan a day earlier, and now was heading home to do battle with any American attackers who might come.

``I`m ready to sacrifice my blood for the defense of Afghanistan,`` he said.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - The German defense ministry denied a report on Saturday that an advance group of elite troops has been dispatched on a mission to Afghanistan probably to help free aid workers held there.

A defense ministry spokesman said a report due to appear in Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday that members of the army`s ``Kommando Spezialkraefte`` (KSK) unit had flown to the region as ordinary passengers on civil aircraft was false.

The paper said the troops were preparing a mission in a country neighboring Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban have held eight aid workers since August on charges of seeking to convert Muslims to Christianity.

The paper said the German troops were working with elite forces from the United States and two other countries, possibly on a mission to free the foreigners from the charity Shelter Now International who are being held in Kabul.

There is growing speculation the United States will launch retaliatory strikes against Afghanistan, which is sheltering Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, Washington`s prime suspect for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Australian officials said on Friday that the aid workers -- four Germans, two Australians and two Americans -- had been moved to a safe location in case of U.S. attacks.

Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping said on Friday it was possible that the German parliament would only be informed in retrospect about certain military missions.

Earlier this week, Die Welt newspaper reported that KSK paratroopers and logistics specialists would be taking part in a mission in the region, while the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that up to 300 men could take part in operations in Afghanistan, possibly with troops from other NATO countries.

The secretive KSK is composed of several hundred men trained in parachuting, survival, hostage rescue and missions behind enemy lines. Media reports say it has helped to arrest war crime suspects in the Balkans.

Since World War Two, the issue of military action abroad has been particularly sensitive in Germany. It only resumed participation in foreign missions in the mid-1990s and all major operations need parliamentary approval.

But military experts said the government could approve KSK action without parliament`s consent if there was a clear danger to German nationals, as in the case of the aid workers.

The German lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly this week in favor of a motion declaring solidarity with the United States and the readiness of the German armed forces to support any military retaliation. However, parliament would still have to vote again on any specific German involvement.

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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Afghan opposition alliance on Saturday sent a team of officials to Rome for talks with ex-king Mohammad Zahir Shah on a future government for the war-ravaged country if possible U.S. attacks depose the ruling Taliban.

The last few days have seen a flurry of political maneuvering focusing on a possible role for the ailing 86-year-old former king, deposed three decades ago but seen as one of the few figures who might be able to unite Afghanistan`s warring factions since he hails from the dominant Pushtun tribe.

The opposition team represents various factions opposed to the purist Taliban movement and holds around 10 percent of Afghanistan, said Sayed Najibullah Hashimi, a spokesman for the Northern Alliance that is led by Burhanuddin Rabbani.

He said the move was not linked to possible U.S. attacks against Afghanistan`s Taliban rulers who are sheltering Osama bin Laden, wanted for masterminding the devastating September 11 suicide attacks on New York and Washington.

However, the trip to Rome was almost certainly aimed at discussing the possibility of reinstating the ailing king, who was deposed in 1973, but is still seen by many Afghans as a symbol of unity among the many different ethnic groups that patchwork the landlocked and rugged land.

``The delegation will also get in touch with other Afghan groups abroad about the future structure of a government for Afghanistan,`` Hashimi told Reuters from the northeastern town of Faizabad, the main bastion of the opposition government that the Taliban overthrew in 1996 but which is still recognized by many countries as well as the United Nations.

BROAD-BASED GOVERNMENT

``We are keen to attract their attention for the establishment of a broad-based government representing all strata and acceptable to all the world`s countries,`` he said.

The opposition team is headed by Yonus Qanoni, a top political aide to Rabbani and to his former military leader, Ahmad Shah Masood, who died last week after a suicide assassination attack.

Rabbani and most in his alliance are from the minority Tajik ethnic group and have said they want to join any U.S. attack. But even if their forces were to make gains against the Taliban, they would be unlikely to find sufficient backing to set up a government without a Pushtun presence.

``We will take part in the U.S. attacks and also stage our own operations against the Taliban. The aim of the team`s trip is to work and agree with Afghans overseas as to how best we can fill the gap when the Taliban are gone,`` he said.

Zahir Shah has lived in exile since 1973 following his overthrow in a coup after ruling Afghanistan for 40 years. The land he once ruled has been racked by civil war or invasion almost without uninterruption since he fell from power.

The opposition team were not the only ones converging on the ex-king`s home in a quiet Rome street.

The United Nations envoy to Afghanistan told Reuters on Friday he would hold weekend talks in Rome with the former king. ``I am going to Rome tomorrow (Saturday) to see the King,`` he said.

QUEUE FOR TALKS

Francesc Vendrell, who held talks with the ex-king in mid-May as part of his shuttle diplomacy, also met one of Zahir Shah`s sons, Mirwais, and a grandson, Mostapha, in Geneva last week.

Many exiled Afghan movements believe ``only a Loya Jirga convened by the former King would have the necessary credibility and support inside Afghanistan,`` according to a report by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Security Council last month.

A Loya Jirga is a grand council representing all Afghans. But various factions have been calling for years for such a meeting but have never been able to agree on its composition, timing or goals.

The ex-king himself finally broke his silence on the crisis facing Afghanistan late on Thursday, broadcasting an appeal to Afghanistan for an emergency Loya Jirga to elect a head of state and set up a transitional government.

In his address, made in the Dari language, the king said his ultimate goal was the ``liberation of our homeland and people.``

``Despite the many sacrifices that the courageous nation of Afghanistan has endured for the noble cause of freedom and human dignity, we must acknowledge with regret that the presence of foreign-imposed terrorists has caused unrest and danger for the stability of our country and peace in the region,`` he said.

``Historically, our nation has acted in accordance with the guidance and tenets of Islam, embraced moderation and tolerance, opposed terrorism and terrorist behavior, which is alien to Afghan traditions,`` he said

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BAGHDAD, Sept 22 (Reuters) - President Saddam Hussein warned the United States on Saturday against waging what he described as a futile war of revenge and said Iraq was not afraid of a U.S. military build-up nearby.

"Stay where you are. Using the whip and the gun is a light-headed policy without a future," Saddam said, as U.S. troops began to deploy in the Gulf in preparation for a possible strike on Afghanistan in retaliation for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Washington regards Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, who has been living in Afghanistan as a "guest" of its Taliban rulers, as the prime suspect in the attacks in which 6,800 people are dead and missing.

Senior U.S. officials have not ruled out strikes against other hostile nations but said there was "no evidence" linking Iraq to the attack that killed thousands.

"The world that wants good for America has to tell her: remain behind the Atlantic and you will see stability, an improving economy and better relations," Saddam said during a meeting of the Iraqi cabinet.

The Iraqi president said Iraq was not intimidated by U.S. military might.

"America cannot scare 25 million people, which is the population of Iraq," said Saddam, who considers that Baghdad emerged victorious from the 1991 Gulf War against a U.S. led coalition that drove out his troops from Kuwait.

Reports have emerged that one of the suicide attackers on New York had met Iraqi intelligence agents in Europe. Baghdad denied that such a meeting took place. ((Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Baghdad editorial 9641 5433710))

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A bomb scare forced the evacuation of the international arrivals terminal and a control tower at New York`s JFK airport on Saturday.

Alan Hicks, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said the bomb threat was under investigation but backup systems were deployed and there was no disruption to air services.

Security at JFK and all other U.S. airports has been substantially tightened since the Sept. 11 attacks against New York`s World Trade Center and the Pentagon near Washington.

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LONDON, SEPT. 22. The impending U.S.-led assault on terrorism would be targeted at terrorist actions anywhere in the world, including Jammu and Kashmir, the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, has said.

In an interview to the BBC, he said the proposed anti-terrorist campaign in the wake of the carnage in New York and Washington on September 11 would be aimed at all terrorist operations that threatened legitimate governments and the right of innocent people to live their lives.

Asked by the interviewer, Mr. Jeremy Paxman of BBC`s Newsnight, whether it was a ``war`` against all terrorism including Irish, Kashmiri and Basque terrorism, Gen. Powell said: ``I think that is correct. Any organisation that is interested in terrorist operations to overthrow legitimate governments, democratically elected governments, or governments that represent the will of their people is a threat. We should go after them. This is not new for the United States. We recently designated the Real IRA a terrorist organisation. We have done the same thing with three organisations in Colombia, the FARC, the ELN and recently their para-military, the AUC.``

Gen. Powell, who preferred to call it a campaign rather than a war, said the U.S. had already been in the ``forefront`` of combating terrorism but after the September 11 incidents there was need for a worldwide campaign, ``not just the United States or even just the U.N. but rather everybody coming together.`` What happened on September 11 was an attack on ``democracy`` and ``civilisation`` and the values of the free world, he said.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Saddam Hussein criticized President Bush on Saturday for telling nations to choose sides in the coming war against terrorism - saying it was a choice that Iraq has never demanded countries make.

When Iraqis were killed, ``we did not ask the world to be either with us or with the terror, as America is doing,`` the Iraqi leader told his Cabinet, in remarks carried on state TV.

``Instead, we thanked those who sympathized with us, without regarding those who failed to do so as our enemies,`` he said.

Bush told Congress Thursday that nations of the world must decide whether they are with the United States or with the terrorists.

Hussein accused the U.S. leader of ``treating terrorism with terrorism.``

It was his fourth remark about the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In his first, an open letter to the West, the leader said Americans should learn through their current pain about the suffering they`ve inflicted on others, particularly Iraqis and Palestinians.

Apparently addressing the United States` increasing economic worries, Hussein said, ``If America deals with the world`s peoples in a decent manner, than its fortunes will be increased and it will face no competition.

``You (Americans) will not be able to achieve stability and security, if you ride your horses and chase the people,`` he said.

The United States considers Iraq - still under U.S.-supported U.N. sanctions 11 years after the Gulf War - as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The U.S. military campaign now building up strength is expected to target the Afghanistan base of Osama bin Laden, suspected of masterminding the attacks on New York and

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Saturday September 22, 2001 10:27 PM


A British Muslim who took part in secret military training sessions in Afghanistan says he would return to help the Taliban fight UK troops.

Londoner Abu Yahya was drilled in the use of weapons and explosives at camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Now he says he would take up arms against British soldiers to protect his Muslim brothers - and would recruit other British Muslims to join the fight.

Mr Yahya, a member of the London-based Muslim group Al-Muhajiroun which believes in a worldwide Islamic state, said: "If the West goes to war against any Muslim country I have a divine obligation to join my brothers and sisters.

"My allegiance is to Islam, not to Queen or country - if I have to shoot British soldiers, then so be it."

The 26-year-old university graduate from Plaistow, east London, added: "There are a lot of Muslims who feel the way I do and I will not hesitate to recruit them for the cause.

"There is no law in the UK that can stop us going. I have already had military training, I know the area and I am ready to return to Afghanistan."

Mr Yahya and other members of Al-Muhajiroun besieged the Pakistan embassy in Knightsbridge last week in support of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.

"My support for my brothers in the Taliban will be verbal, financial - and physical if necessary," said the father-of-two.

Scotland Yard is understood to be monitoring the activities of the Al-Muhajiroun group.

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Clinton says had plans for getting Bin Laden
Reuters, 09.22.01, 7:08 PM ET




NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former President Clinton said Saturday his administration authorized the arrest and, if necessary, the killing of Islamic militant Osama bin Laden but lacked sufficient information to carry it out.

Government sources have said the Clinton administration in 1998 gave the CIA approval to conduct covert operations targeting bin Laden, who Washington believes masterminded the bombings that year of two U.S. embassies in East Africa.

Bin Laden is also believed to be behind the Sept. 11 attacks against New York`s World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Virginia that left more than 6,800 dead or missing.

"At the time we did everything we can do," Clinton said of the 1998 operations.

"I authorized the arrest and, if necessary, the killing of Osama bin Laden and we actually made contact with a group in Afghanistan to do it," he told reporters in New York following a briefing by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

"We also trained commandos for a possible ground action but we did not have the necessary intelligence to do it in the way we would have had to do it."

Clinton said any action against Bin Laden now could have greater chances of success given the broader international support for U.S. action following the aerial suicide attacks.

"Now we have support from people who would not have supported us then, and they give us many more tactical options than were available then," he said. "Can this big international movement be defeated? Absolutely it can."

Among those who have pledged support to the United States in tracking down bin Laden is Pakistan`s President Pervez Musharraf.

Clinton`s successor, George W. Bush, has launched the biggest U.S. military mobilization since the 1991 Gulf War in response to the deadly attacks.

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A senior anti-Taliban opposition figure said on Sunday he believed fugitive Saudi militant Osama bin Laden was in hiding in southern Afghanistan with the Taliban`s spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Dr Abdullah Abdullah, foreign minister of the Northern Alliance which is recognised as Afghanistan`s government by the United Nations, said he believed bin Laden and the Taliban`s spiritual leader could be found and captured.

"He is as dangerous as he used to be. He has gone into hiding alongside Mullah Omar," Abdullah told a news briefing at the Afghan embassy on Sunday.

Abdullah said bin Laden was "definitely in southern Afghanistan", mostly likely in the southern Kandahar region, with Omar. "They are together."

"This is the first time that Mullah Omar has gone into hiding", he said. The cleric has disappeared from public view before but never from his own followers, Abdullah added.

[igor1]

BAGHDAD (AP)--Despite denying any link to the terror attacks in the United States, Iraq considers itself a possible target in the American campaign against terrorism, the Iraqi vice president said late Saturday.

At the opening of the 13th Babylon International Festival, Taha Yassin Ramadan told reporters Iraq is not related in any way to the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington and he accused America of only using force to impose its will upon others.

When asked if the United States might attack Iraq, Ramadan said: "Everything is possible. Yet this is not a new matter to Iraq, which faced ... a stronger campaign led by the United States 11 years ago."

He said: "We are confident that America is heading to its end."

Washington is strengthening its already formidable Gulf arsenal, sending more than 100 aircraft, positioning naval ships and calling up thousands of troops for an imminent strike against those it considers responsible for the recent terror attacks in the United States that left more than 6,000 people dead or missing.

Since 1991, U.S. and British planes have patrolled Iraqi skies to enforce no-fly zones, using bases in the Gulf and Turkey to launch sorties against Iraqi military installations. Such bases are expected to figure in a likely U.S.-led campaign against Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, which harbors exiled Saudi dissident and prime suspect in the U.S. attacks, Osama bin Laden.

The United States considers Iraq, which remains shackled by economic sanctions 11 years after the Gulf War, a state sponsor of terrorism.

[igor1]

TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States has warned its allies of a possible second round of attacks by the end of this week following the deadly strikes on New York and Washington, Jiji news agency quoted Japanese government sources as saying.
The next round of attacks could be on a greater scale than the assaults by hijacked aircraft on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, according to information provided to Japan by Washington, Jiji reported.

The news agency quoted the sources as saying on Saturday that the "means of terrorism" would be "more cruel and shocking" than the September 11 carnage, which left more than 6,800 either dead or missing.

The report could not be confirmed by the U.S. embassy in Tokyo, which said it was not aware of any new information regarding the possibility of another attack.

"We have no further information beyond what was in the last State Department worldwide caution," U.S. embassy spokesman Patrick Linehan said.

The U.S. State Department`s worldwide travel caution issued after the September 11 attacks said the government remained concerned about information it received in May that Americans may be the target of a "terrorist threat" from groups with links to Osama bin Laden, who the U.S. government says is the prime suspect in the attacks in New York and Washington.

JAPAN ON GUARD

Washington suspects that a group led by fugitive Saudi-born millionaire bin Laden has been contemplating attacks using biological and chemical weapons, such as sarin nerve gas, for years, according to the sources quoted by Jiji.

The United States has information that the group has already acquired small airplanes to spray bacteria causing smallpox or anthrax from the air, Jiji quoted the sources as saying.

The targets of the possible attacks were unknown but possibilities included members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and Pakistan, Jiji said.

Time magazine reported on Saturday that investigators had found a crop-dusting manual during a search for those responsible for the attacks on New York and Washington, triggering concern that crop-dusting planes might be used for chemical or biological assaults.

The FBI in Washington said it had not seen the report and had no comment on it.

The government sources said attacks on Japan could not be ruled out since Tokyo has expressed support for U.S. retaliation against the September 11 strikes.

Japan`s public security authorities have gone on heightened alert since receiving the information from the United States.

"The government of Japan is firmly resolved to strive for the eradication of terrorism. At the same time, Japan strongly supports the United States and is determined to do its utmost to offer assistance and cooperation," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Sunday at a memorial ceremony for the victims of the attacks.

Koizumi, who leaves for Washington on Monday for a meeting with President George W. Bush the next day, said Japan would contribute $10 million (7 million pounds) to support rescue and relief efforts.

Koizumi has also said his government would take steps to allow Japan to provide logistical support in any military retaliation against the attacks, by dispatching troops to provide medical services as well as supplying and transporting unspecified items to support U.S. forces.

[igor1]

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Fighters from a pro-Taliban Pakistan Islamic group have begun marching to the Afghan border to fend off a possible U.S. invasion, a local leader of the group, Jamiat Ulema i-Islam (JUI), said on Sunday.

The hardline Sunni Muslim group, a member of the Pakistan-Afghan Defense Council that supports the Taliban, said its mujahideen, or holy warriors -- many believed to have trained in camps inside Afghanistan -- would also be sent to surround air bases to try to prevent U.S. military from using the facilities.

``We are moving our mujahideen,`` Abdul Ghafoor, leader of the JUI in western Baluchistan province that borders Afghanistan, told a news conference.

``They are marching toward the Pakistan-Afghan border,`` he said, adding that they aimed to fight on behalf of Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban in case of U.S. attacks in the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Pakistani troops are reported to have reinforced the length of the border, known as the Durand line since it was demarcated during the British Raj, and are also stopping all Afghans without proper papers from entering.

``Our mujahideen will cordon off all air bases in Pakistan where the U.S. army operates,`` Ghafoor said.

The JUI is a pro-Taliban party with strong bases in western Baluchistan and in North West Frontier Province that also borders Afghanistan and runs several madrasses, or Islamic religious schools, where many of the Taliban were educated.

He echoed the sentiments of many Pakistanis when he voiced fears the United States threat to hunt down bin Laden, prime suspect in the devastating U.S. attacks on September 11, was more than a manhunt.

``The war against Afghanistan is not just against Afghanistan but it is against the world of Islam,`` he said.

Four people died in protests in the southern port city of Karachi on Friday -- three shot dead in clashes with police and a another of a heart attack -- after a coalition of Muslim groups called a national strike and a day of demonstrations.

Over 50 people were arrested, most of them Afghans, police said. But as a fuller picture of Friday`s protests emerged from across this county of 140 million, it was clear the turnout was low by Pakistani standards.

Pakistani opinion has been divided over Musharraf`s decision to help the United States in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and Washington`s Pentagon that killed nearly 7,000 people.

The United States says Saudi-born dissident bin Laden, who lives as a ``guest`` of Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban, is the prime suspect and has vowed to hunt him down and punish those who protect him.

A snap poll by Gallup Pakistan last week showed 62 percent of those questioned opposed Musharraf`s decision to stand by the United States.

Pakistan hosts at least two million Afghan refugees -- more than a million in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan -- and the provincial capital Peshawar now has more Afghan than local people.

Many Pakistanis fear the refugees could prove dangerous if a conflict broke out between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

[igor1]

!

Dieser Beitrag wurde vom System automatisch gesperrt. Bei Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an [e-mail]

[igor1]

Pilot urges passengers to take on hijackers

An American airline is investigating a pilot who allegedly called on his passengers to attack anyone who hijacked their flight.

The unnamed United Airlines pilot is reported to have told passengers over the intercom: "Remember, there will be one of him and maybe a few confederates, but there are 200 of you."

United Airlines says it is investigating the alleged outburst by the pilot.

The incident is said to have happened on flight 564 from Denver to Washington last week, reports the Sunday Mail.

[igor1]

Sharon cancels talks with Peres and Arafat

Ariel Sharon has cancelled a planned meeting between Simon Peres and Yasser Arafat.

At a weekly cabinet meeting journalists heard the talks were unlikely to go ahead on Sunday because there had not been `two days of quiet` - one of the preconditions for the talks to go ahead.

There was violence in the Gaza strip on Saturday, so there has to be a further 48 hours of peace before Sharon will allow the talks to begin, reports BBC News 24.

Story filed: 10:59 Sunday 23rd September 2001

[igor1]

U.K.`s `SAS` Soldiers Clash With Taliban Troops, Paper Reports
By Richard Blackden


Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- British ``SAS`` soldiers clashed with forces from Afghanistan`s Taliban regime late on Friday, though nobody was hurt, the Sunday Times reported, citing an unidentified person close to the SAS.

Taliban soldiers fired after being ``spooked`` by a small team of the U.K. special operation force near Kabul, the Afghan capital. The SAS soldiers may have entered the country from neighboring Tajikistan, the paper said.

The U.S. says Sept. 11 terrorists in New York and Washington D.C. were masterminded by the Saudi Arabian-born terrorist Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden is based in Afghanistan and has been protected by the ruling Taliban government.

SAS soldiers are working with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency as well as anti-Taliban groups within Afghanistan in a bid to locate bin Laden, the paper said. The SAS, or Special Air Service regiment of the British Army, is equivalent to the U.S. Navy Seals.

U.S. President George W. Bush has said U.S. retaliation for the Sept. 11 attacks, which left more than 6,000 presumed dead, may include covert operations.

(The Sunday Times 9-23 1)

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KABUL (AP)--Heavy fighting was reported Sunday between Taliban and opposition forces in northern Afghanistan as the U.S. stepped up preparations for an attack to capture or kill suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and destroy his training camps.

An alliance of opposition groups claimed to have captured a key district of Balkh province and to have killed at least 80 Taliban militia fighters. Gen. Abdul Rasheed Dostum, chief of the Jumbish-e-Milli opposition group, said in a telephone interview that at least 200 Taliban fighters were captured and that his side had two men injured.

A Taliban official in Kabul confirmed the fighting but insisted the opposition alliance had made no gains in the region during clashes about 300 kilometers northwest of the Afghan capital. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

It wasn`t possible to independently confirm the claims of either side since all of Afghanistan`s neighbors have closed their borders at the request of the U.S., and nearly all foreign officials, including U.N. and international aid workers, have left the country.

US Military Presence Building

Fears of a military confrontation with the U.S. have risen since President George W. Bush and his administration accused bin Laden of planning the Sept. 11 suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, in which thousands were believed to have died.

Bin Laden has lived in Afghanistan since 1996, and U.S. President George W. Bush has demanded the Taliban hand him and his lieutenants over or face American military action. The Taliban rejected the demand and warned Afghans to prepare for a holy war to defend the country.

Meanwhile, the U.S. was gearing up for attacks unless the Taliban hand over bin Laden, close his training camps and meet Washington`s other demands. U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers capable of dropping or firing long-range cruise missiles and an array of other weapons were en route to an undisclosed location after leaving overnight from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

The U.S. Defense Department on Saturday called up another 5,172 National Guard and reserve troops, raising to 10,303 the total of Air National Guard Air Force Reserve troops called to active duty since Thursday.

Taliban, Pakistan Moving Equipment, Troops

Taliban forces have also been reinforcing their positions along the border with Pakistan, prompting similar moves by the Pakistani military. A column of about seven tanks loaded on flatbed trucks could be seen Sunday moving toward the border from the northwestern Pakistani city Peshawar, according to witnesses.

Afghan Teachers` Call For Evidence On Bin Laden

On Sunday, 400 teachers at Kabul University adopted a resolution condemning the terrorist attacks in the United States, but saying that Washington should stop vilifying bin Laden and their country without producing any evidence of his involvement, said medical department chairman Mohib Samim.

The teachers appealed to the U.N. and other countries, including their Muslim allies, to persuade the U.S. to stop mobilizing its forces for an attack on Afghanistan. But they also vowed to join a "jihad," or holy war, against America if the assault takes place.

[igor1]

A massive US-led strikeforce took up positions in countries surrounding Afghanistan today as Washington rewarded its key allies and speeded preparations for a strike against Islamic terrorists.

The United States lifted sanctions imposed on India and Pakistan after their 1998 nuclear tests and won Russian backing to deploy forces in Central Asia within striking distance of Afghan militant bases, officials said.

With a US military counter-strike against Islamic militants based in Afghanistan now highly likely, the Taliban militia responded with defiance and again refused to hand over suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

"There is no change in our stand," said Abdul Hai Mutmaen, spokesman for Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

"The US demand is not acceptable to any Afghan Muslim and we are also not ready to accept it."

The Islamic regime`s defiance, reported by the Afghan Islamic Press agency, appeared to make a US strike against bin Laden, his al-Qaeda terror network and Afghan forces inevitable as US and British forces massed around the region.

US President George W Bush holds bin Laden responsible for the September 11th terrorist attacks on US cities which left more than 6,800 dead and has made his capture the key early goal of a global "war against terrorism".

Reports from Kabul said that Taliban leaders had distributed thousands of Kalashnikov assault rifles to civilians in expectation of an attack, but the noose was tightening around them as a US-led coalition gathered strength.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his approval to US plans to launch attacks from bases in former Soviet Central Asian republics, US officials said.

Moscow`s decision came as President Emomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan said his country, which borders Afghanistan, would support the US effort and Uzbek officials said US warplanes and attack helicopters were already in Uzbekistan.

The Pentagon would not confirm or deny the report.

Meanwhile intense fighting raged in northern Afghanistan as opposition forces under warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam claimed he had cut off a Taliban supply route leading to the town of Mazar-i-Sharif near the Uzbek and Tajik borders.

Opposition forces have pledged to work with the United States in the event of an attack and military experts have suggested that the Mazar-i-Sharif airfield could be a key target for capture.

[igor1]

Indonesian Muslim Group Warns Americans to Leave




JAKARTA (Reuters) - Scores of Muslim Indonesian men entered international hotels in the central Java city of Solo on Sunday warning Americans to leave if the U.S. carries out revenge strikes against Afghanistan.

Witnesses and hotel staff said the men, representing several radical Muslim groups, went to at least four hotels and demanded to see guest lists.

``They asked whether we had U.S. citizens staying in this hotel. I told them we did not have any and they went out peacefully,`` Pautan Hidir Hasan, a manager of the five-star Lor In hotel, told Reuters.

He said the men also distributed pamphlets which read: ``Afghan attacked -- people from the U.S. and its allies must get out of Solo.``

The Muslim group threatened to return to the hotels once America launched its attack.

``If the U.S. and its allies go on and attack Afghanistan, their citizens must leave Solo and Indonesia. If they don`t, the hotels will bear the consequences,`` group spokesman Abdullah Khoidir told reporters.

Solo, which lies 280 miles east of Jakarta, is popular with foreign tourists who visit its famous royal palace.

ANTI U.S. FEELINGS GROWING

Anti U.S. sentiment has been growing in the world`s largest Muslim country following the deadly September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Several hundred protesters held rallies in three cities in Indonesia on Saturday shouting anti-U.S. slogans and threatening to boycott U.S. goods.

And one radical Muslim group, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), last week threatened to attack the U.S. embassy and round up American citizens for expulsion if Washington uses force on Afghanistan which it accuses of harboring Osama bin Laden.

Washington believes Saudi-born bin Laden masterminded the attacks in which more than 6,000 people are believed to have been killed.

Radical Muslim groups made similar demands at international hotels in Solo including the Lor In almost a year ago when relations between Indonesia and the United States had soured over a range of issues, including Washington`s stance over the Israel, Palestinian conflict.

Some analysts in Indonesia have said many in the world`s fourth most populous country believe the U.S. has been less than even-handed in its support for Israel.

WE WANT EVIDENCE

Indonesia`s top Muslim group has said it will not take part in the growing anti U.S. movement but said tensions could flare unless America could prove Saudi-born Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks.

``In Indonesia where the majority of people follow Islam, a lot of people have empathy toward Osama and Afghanistan,`` Hasyim Muzadi, head of the 40-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), told Reuters.

But Muzadi said raiding hotels and rounding up American citizens was not within the spirit of NU.

``NU has warned members not to join these raids. NU is built on religious values not religious agitation or politicking,`` he said in an interview late on Saturday.

Around 90 percent of Indonesia`s 210 million people follow Islam.

[igor1]

habe nicht erwartet das sich mein verdacht das Laskar Jihad
aktiv wird so schnel erfüllt
sihe posting #46

[igor1]

Peering into bin Laden`s network
Recruits taught how to sow fear


By Michael J. Berens
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 23, 2001


His mission was simple: Drive a small truck laden with explosives as close as possible to the American Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, then push an electronic trigger that would level the building.

Two years of harsh training in Afghanistan camps sharpened his skills as a killer and molded his thoughts into a single-minded fervor to hate Americans. Over and over, he said, leaders drilled in the mantra: It is your right and duty to kill.

Push the plunger and enter paradise, he was told.

The only glitch was that Mohamed Rashed Al-`Owhali inexplicably survived what was supposed to be a suicidal blast in August 1998. Once in custody, he would reveal to the FBI the inner workings of the clandestine brotherhood guided by Osama bin Laden, now the focal point of the world`s largest manhunt.

Al-`Owhali`s confession provides a chilling portrait of how a financially privileged and educated man became a terrorist, of mountaintop rituals and the bayat--a sacred oath among the killer squads--and of hidden identities and rigorous conditioning where only the most loyal soldiers are granted an audience with bin Laden.

The confession and more than 8,000 pages of court transcripts reveal not only how a seemingly ordinary man was molded into a robotic killer, but also how terrorists are trained to infiltrate dozens of nations, including the U.S.

Although Al-`Owhali now claims his confession was coerced--a charge rejected by the court--his statement is considered one of the most detailed accounts of the bin Laden network of terrorists. Law-enforcement agencies are revisiting cases like this one to help explain how 19 men came to hurl themselves at American targets on Sept. 11.

Al-`Owhali, 24, is in a federal prison cell at an undisclosed location. He was convicted this year with three other bin Laden operatives for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi and Tanzania that killed 224 people and injured thousands. Bin Laden was indicted in the case but remains at large.

During an extraordinary four-day interview with FBI agents following his capture days after the blast, Al-`Owhali provided insight into how and why a man chooses to be a martyr, and how he stoked a hatred for people who had done him no direct harm.

He recounted making a video that was to be shipped to a secret library deep in Afghanistan, where it would be shelved alongside other "martyr tapes."

"I am the liberator of the Holy Lands," he said.

Although the FBI did not recover the video, the agency confirmed its existence through interviews with other bin Laden associates now in custody. And key parts of his confession are corroborated by two FBI informants who were part of the bin Laden network, according to court records.

Despite his initial cooperation with federal agents, Al-`Owhali has remained absolute in his beliefs, an FBI interrogator, agent Stephen Gaudin, told a jury earlier this year.

He quoted Al-`Owhali as saying, "America is my enemy."

Choosing bin Laden

Al-`Owhali, the son of millionaire Saudi parents, appeared to have a privileged life. Born in Liverpool, England, while his father finished a master`s degree, he could have chosen most any direction, backed by family wealth and influence.

But in 1994, the 17-year-old, who was studying religion at Mohamed Bin Saud in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, drifted toward bin Laden, who was a hero to many of Al-`Owhali`s less affluent friends.

Al-`Owhali told FBI agents he was saturated with anti-American sentiments found in books, magazines and videos. The materials portrayed America as a nation seeking to control Saudi Arabia and Muslims everywhere. America was evil disguised as good. America was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Muslim children.

Spurred by companions who talked of joining a jihad, a battle against their enemies, Al-`Owhali began to look for a way into bin Laden`s organization.

Bin Laden, too, was born into a wealthy family. Trained as a civil engineer, he amassed millions from his family`s construction business but harbored a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in Muslim lands. After he helped rally Afghan freedom fighters to victory against the Soviet Union, bin Laden`s stature grew enormously. By the 1990s, citing America`s interference in his native Saudi Arabia, bin Laden declared war on the U.S., his one-time ally against the Soviets.

In a display of the organizational reach and sophistication of bin Laden`s network, the bombing of the embassy in Nairobi drew on members living secret lives in a dozen countries, from a New York resident who frequently met with bin Laden to a German businessman who helped with logistical support to an unidentified counterfeiter who traveled among nations distributing fake passports, according to court documents.

Like countless other young men, Al-`Owhali was drawn to the Pakistani border town of Peshawar, the primary portal to bin Laden`s Afghanistan-based training camps, in the hopes of learning the skills to defeat Islam`s enemies.

A recruiter he met at a coffee shop agreed to escort Al-`Owhali to the Khaldan Camp, a basic training area for raw recruits. Young men arrived from many countries--Egypt, Syria, Algeria, among others--lured by the promise of salvation for their service.

On the first day, a leader told the recruits their real names would never be used again. Al-`Owhali, a Saudi, became Mohammed Akbar of Qatar.

There was a real Mohammed Akbar in Qatar, he would learn. It was his first lesson on deceit, Al-`Owhali explained to the FBI. There were many others.

Training and strategy

During missions, he was instructed, beards should always be shaved to look less menacing. Wear ordinary clothes. Don`t turn away from security cameras. Smoke cigarettes and wear cologne to more easily blend in.

He was also taught to attack American targets at times when Muslims are most likely to be at prayer services so as to reduce Muslim casualties, and to seek out female victims because they garner more media attention.

A daily regimen of strategy sessions and light weapons training was supplemented with mandatory religious study. Recruits repeatedly were told that their objective was to eliminate opponents of Islam.

He also learned how to hijack planes--quickness and fear are the best allies--and how to topple office towers with explosives. He was taught how to survey a building for its weakest points and how to target a structure`s main load-bearing supports.

The camp leader nominated Al-`Owhali and a small group of other camp standouts for an audience with bin Laden in 1996. Three days before the advent of Ramadan, a holy time of worship and fasting, he stood before the leader.

Al-`Owhali told the FBI that bin Laden urged the death of all Americans, anywhere and by any means.

He was then introduced to bin Laden`s top military guard. In a mountaintop ritual, many of the men took the bayat, an initiation into bin Laden`s personal military.

Al-`Owhali never took that oath. He told agents he was more interested in operating in an underground cell than in bin Laden`s private army.

In Arabic, he explained to FBI agents that under bin Laden`s influence he had become convinced that his homeland was under siege by America. He desperately wanted a mission that would result in the deaths of Americans, he told agents.

But before he would get his wish, Al-`Owhali was dispatched to assist the Taliban government near Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Al-`Owhali claimed he and only five other men deployed in the hills repelled an anti-Taliban attack ten times stronger.

The FBI could not verify the account, but Al-`Owhali said it elevated him in standing to where he was awarded the privilege of carrying a rifle over his shoulder even when bin Laden was in camp.

No clear definition

For years, scholars have written that terrorists typically share a background of poverty and desperation.

But stories like Al-`Owhali`s and the backgrounds of some of the 19 suspected hijackers have left terrorism experts scrambling to explain why so many educated young men were willing to kill themselves.

Beyond Al-`Owhali`s conviction that America was strangling the Islamic world was a sense of loyalty to his comrades. That bond fortified his willingness to sacrifice his life while committing acts of terror.

Al-`Owhali told investigators he agreed to kill others as much out of devotion to the other members of his terrorist cell as out of a duty to bin Laden.

As Al-`Owhali and a friend he knew only as Azzam rode in a covered truck packed with explosives, winding their way through crowded Nairobi streets, they listened to a cassette of Arabic chants to steel themselves.

The bomb was to be detonated at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 7, 1998. The two had learned of their final destination only days before, but they had known for weeks that a martyr mission was planned, Al-`Owhali told the FBI.

A mixture of TNT, aluminum nitrate and aluminum powder was put into dozens of wooden boxes, which were wired together to batteries hidden in the back of the truck.

Publicity sought

They had chosen the embassy in Nairobi because the U.S. ambassador stationed there was a woman and they thought her death would result in more publicity, the FBI was told.

All associates connected to the bombing--more than a dozen who helped secure money, passports and vehicles--were ordered to leave the country the day before.

Al-`Owhali jumped from the passenger side of the truck as it approached the embassy gate, FBI investigative reports show. His job was to shoot embassy guards, but he accidentally left his gun in the truck so he tossed a stun grenade that had been attached to his belt.

Past the guards, Azzam moved the truck closer to the embassy and detonated the explosives.

Azzam died, but Al-`Owhali staggered to a hospital for treatment of head and hand injuries. He then checked into a hotel and was arrested several days later.

FBI agent Gaudin later testified, "Al-`Owhali explained to me that he was fully prepared to die, but once the mission was complete, after that it would be suicide and suicide is forbidden by Islam."

Despite the intensity of the blast, Ambassador Prudence Bushnell survived and testified against Al-`Owhali.

More cells

FBI officials said they are currently reviewing the case for clues into bin Laden`s network that may have been overlooked or dismissed at the time.

During his four-day interrogation in 1998 by the FBI, Al-`Owhali promised that there were more cells, more men not only in the U.S., but in dozens of countries.

A final incident in the interrogation room showed Al-`Owhali still clinging to the loyalties that had been sown in Afghanistan.

Gaudin handed Al-`Owhali a picture of a suspect and asked him to identify the person. It was Azzam.

Al-`Owhali clutched Azzam`s picture to his chest and cried, Gaudin and Nairobi police authorities wrote in their reports. Al-`Owhali lapsed into a poetic chant.

He spoke in his native Arabic in an almost childish, singsong voice, startled agents recalled. He spoke of joining Azzam in paradise.

I will live forever, he sang.

[igor1]

Hundreds of Indonesian Muslims rally against US

JAKARTA: Several hundred Muslims rallied in cities across Indonesia on Saturday in growing anger at US plans to carry out retaliatory strikes on Afghanistan and for accusing Osama bin Laden of orchestrating the deadly attacks.

The official Antara newsagency reported hundreds of protesters gathered in the port towns of Makassar and Palu on Sulawesi island, calling Americans arrogant and threatening to boycott US goods.

"Buying American or Jewish products means giving them money to make bullets to shoot Muslims," Ajbar Abdul Kadir, a co-ordinator of the rally in Palu, was quoted as saying. "Muslims all over the world should be united to face the US.`s arrogance," he added.

[igor1]

AFX-Focus) 2001-09-23 13:08 GMT: Bin Laden hiding in central Afghanistan - Iran radio
TEHERAN (AFX) - Osama bin Laden is hiding in the central Afghan province of Oruzgan, Iranian radio reported, citing sources close to Afghanistan`s ruling Taleban militia.

[igor1]

Anti-American group search Indonesian hotels
Groups of militant Indonesian Muslims have showed up at five international hotels in the central Java city of Solo, demanding to know if any American citizens were staying there.

Six groups of about 25 to 30 men each separately checked the five hotels and the city`s airport.

No American citizens were found.

The men claimed to belong to a group calling itself the Anti-American Terrorist Force.

Their action came despite calls by the Central Java military commander, Major General Sumarsono, for Muslims to refrain from intimidating Americans.

The groups also left pamphlets warning of more to come if the US attacks Afghanistan.

Indonesian police have deployed hundreds of snipers and crack personnel to guard 17 key United States facilities in the capital, Jakarta, in view of rising anti-American sentiment.

[igor1]

British soldiers ready to fight[7b]
by Martin Bentham
(Filed: 23/09/2001)


AS they gathered in the searing heat on the edge of the Arabian Sea yesterday, just one thought dominated the minds of thousands of British troops: when and how they might be deployed in the West`s war on terrorism.

Deep in the Omani desert, as helicopters flew over line after line of Challenger tanks and mile upon mile of Army tents, the personal emotions were clear: anxiety mixed with a professional, quiet, grim determination about the possible battles, and sacrifices, to come.

Milan Gurung, a Gurkha lance corporal in 102 Logistics Brigade, spoke for many as he confirmed that the troops were ready to do their duty: "I hope that we are going to war. The British troops are not happy with the terrorists. They are angry with what happened. There were a lot of British people who died."

In the bar of the Salalah Hilton Hotel, which lies just outside the camp, one off-duty soldier, enjoying a break from the heat and dust of the desert, was equally forthright. "I think the terrorists should all be slaughtered. It`s my personal view and not what the Army would say, but they should all be shot." He refused to give his name for fear his views would incur the wrath of his superiors.

Those who spoke of the possibility of war displayed professional determination tempered with a degree of bravura, and some fear. "It`s what I`m paid to do. Sign on the dotted line and do as you are told," said one. "The terrorists have done a bad thing. If you burgle a house you get punished. This is the same."

As he helped assemble aircraft-tracking equipment in the desert, Sgt Glen Gilbert, of the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade, described how he and his colleagues, who have been trained for combat at altitude, were ready for war.

"We know it will be a daunting venture but we have been trained to fight in the mountains in extreme conditions and, if anyone is to go, we think it should be us," he said. "The message from here is that we are more than up for it."

Another soldier, with eight years` service including tours of duty in the Balkans, was open about his concerns. "I am really frightened and a lot of people here will be feeling the same. There are bad things going to happen. I am expecting it."

The British forces are gathered at Camp Sword, located on the edge of the Arabian Sea in the remote town of Salalah in the Arab state of Oman, to take part in a long-planned exercise. Thousands of tanks and armoured personnel carriers are already deployed for Swift Sword II, which will be one of the biggest displays of firepower since the Gulf war.

Few doubt that their presence in the region puts them in the frontline of the impending action. "Someone somewhere is going to reap the harvest of what happened at the World Trade Centre and we knew immediately that it was going to affect us," said Lt Col Rory Maxwell, as he sat in the command centre of Camp Sword, just a few hours` flight from Osama bin Laden`s hideout in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein`s Iraq.

"The Americans always react and, as soon as we saw it, we just knew that this was not going to be any different." As Lt Col Maxwell spoke, the hulking shape of the Navy transport vessel Sea Crusader in the background gave added emphasis to the thought that British service personnel could soon be taking part in George W. Bush`s "crusade" against the forces of terrorism.

If that is to happen, The Sunday Telegraph, which is the first newspaper to visit British forces in the Middle East since the World Trade Centre was attacked 12 days ago, can testify to the impressive scale of the military might that Britain has already deployed in the region.

The Ministry of Defence - and Lt Col Maxwell himself - were at pains to point out that the three-month exercise, which will also involve Tornado and Harrier jets, Lynx, Puma and Chinook helicopters, the aircraft-carrier Illustrious and numerous other Navy vessels, and a total of 24,000 service personnel, has been planned for a long time and is not a response to the terrorist assault on America.

Coincidence it may be but, as Lt Col Maxwell conceded, the inhospitable conditions in Oman, where temperatures in the desert often exceed 100F (37.7C) and where choking sand and dust are a constant menace, provide a training ground that is every bit as challenging as the notoriously hostile terrain of the Afghan mountains or the deserts of Iraq.

It is, he added, an environment that will prepare the British forces for "high intensity armed conflict" anywhere in the world, although he emphasised that a war in Afghanistan would be viewed with some trepidation by his men. "The lads aren`t fools. Any soldier who has read military history will view any action in any of the places which are being talked about with a degree of caution."

While he talked, Lt Col Maxwell, the commanding officer of 6 Supply Regiment of the Royal Logistics Corps, received a call from Ministry of Defence officials, who having been alerted to the presence of The Telegraph, imposed a ban on further comment. This, however, was not before he had recounted the moments during which he and his colleagues had watched the horror at the World Trade Centre unfold on a big screen in the Camp Sword canteen, which is usually used to allow soldiers to watch Premiership football.

"We were holding a meeting and someone came in and said two planes had flown into the World Trade Centre so he went straight out to see what had happened.

"The cookhouse is normally busy and noisy but there was absolute silence as we went in. Soldiers are people first and foremost. They were shocked and horrified. Having been up the World Trade Centre myself I really felt it. It was stunning enough, but to be able to sit there and watch it made the impact even bigger on everyone," he said before going on to describe how the realisation of the event of America might drag British forces into conflict had swiftly registered with the troops.

While war dominated yesterday`s conversations, there were other soldiers preoccupied by more mundane concerns. One complained about inadequate shower facilities in the camp and of the failure to provide enough desert footwear, which was forcing some troops to wear ordinary black boots which, he said, "melt in the heat" and fall apart within an hour. Others were concerned about camel spiders, biting creatures which get everywhere; the absence of tabloid newspapers; or whether the new "girlfriends" they had met through the internet would be waiting when they returned to Britain.

The Telegraph understands that several elements of the troops gathered in Oman - including special forces and elite Royal Marine units - have already been put on standby to take part in impending operations in Afghanistan. At Camp Sword, however, the official line remains that the exercise, which will also involve Omani forces, is going ahead as planned with no alterations. And indeed, for Lt Col Maxwell, the principal concern was to try to reassure the families of his troops, waiting at home in Germany, that their loved ones are not about to be plunged into serious danger.

He confessed, though, that the air of uncertainty which had hung over the camp since the American atrocities was almost impossible to dispel. "We are planning to be home by Christmas," he said. "We just don`t know which one."

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South Africa receives list of attack suspects from U.S.

The Associated Press



JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) South Africa has received a list of suspects sought for involvement in the terror attacks in the United States from American intelligence officials, the police said Sunday.
Police officials refused to give details, but The Sunday Times reported that a list of 200 people, most of them of Arab descent, was handed over to South African authorities.

According to the report, South African intelligence agencies are searching through records to see if the suspects are in South Africa or have ties to the country. They are also investigating whether religious or cultural organizations in South Africa have connections to the suspects.

The South African government has ruled out military involvement in the United States` planned war on terrorism, but has offered the assistance of its intelligence services in tracking down those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

South Africa has previously helped U.S. intelligence track down a Tanzanian who tried to hide here following the U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998.

Khalfan Mohamed was traced through a photo on his application form for asylum.

He was convicted of murder in the United States in June for the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and sentenced to life in prison without parole

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Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban have been building bunkers, installing anti-aircraft batteries and arming men in key border areas to defend against possible attack by the United States, witnesses and officials said on Sunday.
They said workers are reinforcing defences along the border with Pakistan from Nangahar province near the Khyber pass to Kandahar province, the main stronghold of the movement, which has vowed a jihad (holy war) if it is attacked.

Travellers from the region said the Taliban also have Stinger missiles -- the sophisticated US-built surface-to-air missiles that Washington originally supplied in the mid-1980s to the mujahideen (holy warriors) fighting the Soviet Union.

Taliban officials have also begun recruiting tribesmen in the region and say volunteers have come forward to defend their villages and valleys.

"We have started distributing arms to people. Realising their religious and national responsibility, scores of people are joining us daily," Mohammad Hamid, a Taliban official from Kandahar, told Reuters.

The Taliban have also boosted defences around Kabul against attacks from the United States and the opposition alliance dug in some 50 km north of the city.

PROTECTION AGAINST AIR ATTACK

The areas being reinforced include many of the most heavily used access routes coming in from Pakistan, which has pledged to allow the United States to use its airspace for any action against Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden and his Taliban protectors.

Special precautions are being made to defend Jalalabad, the eastern city near Pakistan`s Khyber Pass, the strategic city of Khost in the eastern Paktia province and the southern province of Kandahar, spiritual centre of the hardline Islamic Taliban.

Washington has threatened to attack Afghanistan unless it hands over bin Laden, whom it blames for devastating aerial attacks in the United States on September 11 that killed more than 6,000 people.

Taliban spokesman Abdul Har Mutamaen told the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press that Kabul had reaffirmed its refusal to hand over bin Laden.

"The American demands are not acceptable to any Muslim Afghan and we are not ready to accept them. There has been no change in our stand," he said.

"We have tried to solve the matter through negotiations but America is stubborn in its power. We have relied on God Almighty and we cannot abandon the path of our religion," Mutamaen said.

He also renewed a warning to neighbouring countries not to let the United States use their bases for an assault.

"The Afghan people will never forget these moments and this (support) can lead to dangerous consequences," he said.

Anti-Taliban forces from the Northern Alliance, led by Burhanuddin Rabbani, have offered to join the United States in its operations.

Its top military commander, General Mohammad Fahim, has gone to Tajikistan for talks with officials from Russia and neighbouring countries.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday the target of any U.S. military action in Afghanistan would be Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden, not the people of Afghanistan.

"We are not interested in going after the Afghan people," Powell said before an appearance on a television talk show.

"We are interested in going after Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network, murderers of over 6,000 people in this incident, murderers in earlier incidents," he said.

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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, wanted by the United States as a prime suspect in last week`s attacks in the United States, is missing, Abul Hai Mutmaen, spokesman for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, has said.


Mullah Omar, spiritual leader of the purist Taliban movement that controls Afghanistan, had approved a decision last week by Afghanistan`s most senior clerics to recommend that bin Laden be persuaded to leave the country, he said.


"We have still not been able to deliver the clerics` message to him because we could not find him," Mutmaen said by telephone from the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.


Asked if the world`s most wanted man was still in Afghanistan, he said: "I cannot say."

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Sep 23, 2001 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) -- _ Saudi Arabia, apparently concerned about possible strikes on a fellow Arab state, has rejected a U.S. request to use its air bases for an offensive against terrorism, a Saudi official said Sunday.
The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh referred all queries to the Pentagon on Sunday. In Washington, the Pentagon referred reporters to the State Department, which had no immediate comment.

Just a day earlier, U.S. officials in Washington said they were pleased with co-operation from Saudi Arabia as America prepares to retaliate for the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.

Washington blames Islamic militants led by exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden for the attacks on New York and Washington that left more than 6,000 people missing or dead. Officials indicate a strike on Afghanistan, where bin Laden has found a haven, could come at any time.

Saudi officials, though, say the United States cannot use the Prince Sultan Air Base, south of the Saudi capital Riyadh, for U.S. retaliatory attacks. Last week the commander of the U.S. Central Command`s air operations, air force Lt. Gen. Charles Wald, shifted his operations from South Carolina to the base.

``Saudi Arabia will not accept any infringement on its national sovereignty, but it fully backs action aimed at eradicating terrorism and its causes,`` said the official, who refused to be identified further.

A diplomat in Riyadh, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Saudis were negotiating with the United States over the anti-terrorism campaign. The Saudis were pushing for a multilateral campaign that would allow them some influence over the targets of American retaliation, the diplomat said. The concern appeared to be the possibility other Arab states would be targeted.

In the past, Washington has accused Yemen, Sudan and Iraq of harbouring terrorists. People in those countries now fear a U.S. attack.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have been close allies for more than half a century. U.S. troops have remained in the kingdom since leading the multinational coalition that ended Iraq`s invasion of Kuwait in 1991

Saudi Arabia plays host to about 4,500 U.S. military personnel and an undisclosed number of warplanes at Prince Sultan Air Base. U.S. warplanes patrolling a no-fly zone over southern Iraq take off from Saudi Arabia.

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AFX-Focus) 2001-09-23 14:37 GMT: Taliban says Bin Laden has vanished
ISLAMABAD (AFX) - Suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden has disappeared, the Afghan Islamic Press cited the Taliban militia as saying.
"Osama bin Laden is missing. We are searching for him," Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmaen was quoted as saying.

Afghan Islamic Press is a Pakistan-based private news agency with close contacts with the Taliban.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has rejected Taliban assertions that Saudi exile Osama bin Laden is missing in Afghanistan.
Asked if he believed the contention, Rumsfeld told the CBS "Face the Nation" program on Sunday: "Of course not. They know where he is."

"It is just not believable that the Taliban do not know where the network can be located and found and either turned over or expelled," he said.

The defence secretary joined U.S. President George W. Bush`s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, in doubting the assertion from Afghanistan earlier on Sunday that bin Laden was now unaccounted for.

A spokesman for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar told Reuters it was unknown if bin Laden was still in Afghanistan and the ruling Taliban had been unable to deliver an edict asking him to leave the country.

Rumsfeld dismissed the contention from Omar, whom he described as "the man who contends that now they cannot find the person they`ve been harbouring for years."

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AFX-Focus) 2001-09-23 16:19 GMT: Rumsfeld says US spy plane lost over Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (AFX) - A US spy plane has been lost over Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, declining to confirm claims by the Taliban militia it had shot down the aircraft.
The Taliban first claimed it had shot down an unmanned spy plane yesterday and initially said it belonged to the US.

Today, it said it shot down an unidentified spy plane in the northern province of Samangan.

The plane was brought down just a few kilometers outside the provincial capital Aibak, said Abdul Hanan Himat, head of the Taliban`s official Bakhter Information Agency.

"It is not clear which country the plane belongs to. A team of technicians has been sent to the area to find out where it came from," Himat said.

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The United States will soon release evidence linking Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden to the attacks on New York and Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell has said.

Powell also predicted on Sunday that the government in Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S. campaign against bin Laden, would survive domestic challenges from militant Islamists.

In answer to reports that bin Laden was missing, Powell said the United States would not have won until it caught every one of the thousands of members of his group.

Powell`s task in the campaign is to mobilise international support for the United States and convince Muslim countries that Muslims are not the target of U.S. revenge.

The governments of most Muslim countries have said they oppose terrorism but want to see the evidence that bin Laden was behind the attacks on Sept. 11.

Powell told the NBC`s "Meet the Press" program, "We are hard at work bringing all the information together -- intelligence information, law enforcement information."

"I think in the near future, we will be able to put out a paper, a document, that will describe quite clearly the evidence that we have linking him to this attack," he added.

Other U.S. officials have been evasive on whether the United States will release detailed evidence against bin Laden.

NEED TO BE CAREFUL

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, asked the same question on "Fox News Sunday," said: "The United States is going to do nothing that jeopardises the investigation that is ongoing here. We are drawing in investigative services, law enforcement, intelligence from a lot of countries, and so we need to be careful with how we use this information."

Asked if she meant the United States intended to keep any evidence secret to protect its sources and methods, she said: "Of course we`re going to be laying out a case and making a case. We`re going to be making a case to allies and friends, many of whom, by the way, are already involved in developing that case. We will be making a case to the American people."

On Pakistan, Powell said the United States was sensitive to popular opposition in the Islamic world to any U.S. attacks on Afghanistan, where bin Laden is thought to be hiding.

Religious parties held a second day of protests in Pakistan on Saturday, but opposition to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf`s pledge to help the United States track down bin Laden appeared to be waning.

Powell said, "Everything I have seen over the last two weeks convinces me that President Musharraf made a courageous decision and he did it with the full awareness of the potential domestic consequences."

"He is supported by all of his military commanders and all of those in the government, so I am confident that Pakistan will remain stable, and I have no concerns about their nuclear program," he added.

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Second British mosque in suspected arson attack
A second British mosque has been damaged in a suspected arson attack in the wake of the terrorist strikes on the United States, police said.

Officers appealed for calm among Muslim communities after the incident at Al Hazar mosque in South Shields, north-east England.

Although no-one was injured and only minor damage caused in the incident, police were treating it as "serious" in the light of increased tensions among Britain`s two million-strong Muslim community.

Inspector Simon Charlton of South Tyneside police warned that "revenge attacks" in the wake of the September 11 atrocities in the US "would not be tolerated".

Police said they believed one man was responsible for the latest attack.

The incident follows several brutal assaults on Muslims across the country and an arson attack on a mosque in Bolton, north-west England.

Several mosques have been daubed with graffiti and one Afghan taxi driver was left paralysed from the neck down after he was beaten up in London.

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Britain`s SAS could be first into Afghanistan
Elite force may already have engaged in firefight, U.K. paper says

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More than 250 Afghans, who live in Switzerland, have taken to the streets of Geneva in a show of solidarity against terrorism. During their peaceful demonstration in front of the United Nations headquarters, they called for a change of power in Kabul and the removal of the ruling Taliban.

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US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he has no reason to believe a pilotless spy plane has been brought down by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Mr Rumsfeld has confirmed that the United States has lost contact with what he describes as "an unmanned aerial vehicle".

But he says this happens from time to time, and states: "We have no reason to believe it was shot down."

Mr Rumsfeld`s comments are the first confirmation of the loss of such an aircraft, which have been used for years over Iraq and the Balkans for intelligence-gathering purposes.

Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban had earlier claimed that its fighters shot down an unmanned reconnaissance plane in northern Afghanistan and were trying to determine which country launched it.

The Taliban`s official Bakhtar news agency said the aircraft was shot down over the Tashgurgan Pass in Samangan province, which borders Uzbekistan.

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US decides on name change for US terrorist operation
The name of the US reprisals for the horrific September 11 terror attacks would be changed from "Operation Infinite Justice" to avoid offending Muslims, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

The name-change announcement follows a terse exchange on Thursday between the secretary and a reporter who questioned whether the operation`s name would not be an affront to Muslims, who believe that only Allah can deliver "infinite justice".

"We want to find a name that is representative of the effort, and it certainly in no way at all would raise any question on the part of any religion or any group of people," Mr Rumsfeld told CBS television.

Washington is working to mobilise a coalition of moderate Muslim nations to ally with the US-led battle against global terrorism in the wake of the attacks that have left about 6,800 people dead or missing in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

US President George W Bush, with an early use of the term "crusade" to describe the US retaliatory effort, evoked consternation worldwide that the war against prime suspect Osama bin Laden would extend to anyone of Muslim or Arab descent, hearkening back to the Christian Crusades of the Middle Ages.

Since then, Washington has stressed that any action would be taken against the perpetrators of the attacks and their supporters - and that it did not constitute a broad mobilisation against Islam, with Mr Bush calling Islam a "religion of peace" and condemning attacks on US Muslims and people of Arab descent.

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24/09/01 15:45:55

US vows to prove a `persuasive` case against bin Laden
The United States has vowed to make a persuasive and public case to back up its charge that Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden masterminded apocalyptic terrorist attacks this month in New York and Washington.

However, as Pakistan and other Muslim states pressed Washington to provide proof of its charge against bin Laden, senior US officials also made it clear they will not disclose evidence that could jeopardise investigations into the September 11 attacks.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell says the US case against bin Laden is watertight.

"We will put before the world, the American people, a persuasive case that there will be no doubt when that case is presented that it is al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, who has been responsible," Mr Powell said.

His comments were echoed by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

"Clearly we do have evidence, historical and otherwise, about the relationship to the al-Qaeda network to what happened on September 11," she said.

"We will begin to lay out that evidence and we will do it with friends, allies and the American people and others."

Bin Laden has already been charged with other anti-US terrorist operations, including attacks on the naval destroyer USS Cole last year and on two US embassies in Africa in 1998.

In a statement issued on September 16, bin Laden categorically denied involvement in the latest attacks.

Ms Rice has dismissed demands from Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban regime for proof before they will agree to hand bin Laden over to the United States.

"The Taliban is not a government that is given to western jurisprudence, so these calls for proof are somewhat misplaced," she said.

Bin Laden is known to have resided in Afghanistan as a "guest" of the Taliban.

US officials say they expected the Afghan regime to turn him over and assist in efforts to dismantle his al-Qaeda network.

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$30m price on Bin Laden`s head

by Hugh Muir
The Bush Administration has placed a $30 million (£21 million) price on Osama bin Laden`s head. The figure increases by 600 per cent the reward for information leading to his capture.


At the same time, the US Government has revealed it will release a white paper of guilt to prove that bin Laden was responsible for the atrocities on 11 September.

It is thought this will include claims that one bin Laden aide rang another on the day of the attacks saying: "We`ve hit the targets".

It is also expected to claim that the dissident has trained 11,000 fighters in recent years.

Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, said the extra sum was "a great deal of money" and hoped it would prompt somebody in Afghanistan to give away his whereabouts. The move appears to confirm that US intelligence does not know where bin Laden is hiding.

While the details of the dossier have yet to be confirmed, some links between bin Laden and the attackers have already emerged. Telephone calls which referred to a big attack were recorded the day before they occurred while one hijacker, Khalid al Midhar, was seen meeting a bin Laden aide in Malaysia last year.

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AFX-Focus) 2001-09-24 09:25 GMT: Kazakhstan ready to back US strikes in Afghanistan
ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AFx) - President Nursultan Nazarbayev said he was prepared to back the US campaign against Afghanistan "by all possible means," including the use of airspace, if asked.

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AFX-Focus) 2001-09-24 09:43 GMT: Taliban mobilise 300,000 people for war - defence minister
KABUL (AFX) - Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban has mobilised 300,000 Afghans for jihad against the US, defence minister Mullah Obaidullah said.
"In the present situation the ministry of defence has registered an extra 300,000 people who are experienced in jihad," he said in a statement released to journalists here.

"They have been registered in the capital, the borders and other important sites."

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`Afghan troops want to flee into Pakistan`

Thousands of Afghan troops gathering at the border with Pakistan want to flee their country, claims a senior military official.

He is also denying newspaper reports the Taliban has massed 25,000 soldiers along the frontier.

The Pakistani commander says most Afghan troops are wanting to cross over into Pakistan for safety.

Brigadier Rashid Quershi says neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan have deployed troops along their border in the wake of the threatened US strikes.

He claims the Frontier Constabulary are continuing to guard the border as it does during peacetime and no troops have been moved forward.

Brigadier Qureshi states the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is on full alert to defend the country`s strategic assets.

Information Secretary, Syed Anwar Mahmood, says the country favours allying with the US to curb terrorism.

He says the number of protesters against the move was "negligible" and places them at less 50,000 of Pakistan`s 145 million population, the Indo Asian News Service reports

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SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Separatist rebels attacked the intelligence headquarters of an Indian paramilitary force with grenades in the restive state of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, wounding two soldiers, an official said.

The attack took place in the heart of Srinagar, the state`s winter capital.

``Militants fired four grenades toward the BSF (Border Security Force) intelligence headquarters at Karan Nagar. One of them exploded inside the camp and wounded two soldiers,`` a paramilitary spokesman told Reuters.

He said three grenades exploded outside the intelligence complex but did not cause damage. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A dozen rebel groups -- including fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Islamic countries -- are fighting Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir, the country`s only Muslim-majority state.

Indian intelligence agencies reported last week the leader of Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had appealed to militants in Kashmir to come to Afghanistan to help it stand up to a likely U.S. strike in wake of the air attacks on the United States.

Many of the militant groups in Kashmir have vowed to repulse any U.S. retaliatory attacks on Afghanistan.

Officials say more than 30,000 people have been killed in the Kashmir region since the revolt began in late 1989 but the separatists put the toll closer to 80,000.

India controls 45 percent of the Himalayan region, Pakistan one-third, and China the rest.

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Afghan opposition forces have captured the town of Zari Bazar, some 100 km (60 miles) south of the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the Afghan Islamic Press quoted Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmaen as saying on Monday

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Pakistan withdraws all embassy staff from Kabul

Pakistan has withdrawn the entire staff from its embassy in the Afghanistan capital, Kabul, foreign ministry spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan said.

"They have been withdrawn temporarily and the major consideration is their security," Mr Khan said.

"Now there is no one over there."

He said the withdrawal had been done in several steps beginning with non-essential staff.

The announcement came as US forces stood poised to launch military strikes against Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban regime has refused to hand over indicted terrorist Osama bin Laden - the alleged mastermind behind the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are the only two countries which recognise the Taliban, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) having snapped diplomatic ties with Kabul on Saturday.

After the UAE move, Pakistan said it did not intend to break diplomatic links to Kabul.

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AFP - Osama bin Laden, the Saudi dissident who is the prime suspect in the terror attacks in the United States, is in east Afghanistan close to the border with Pakistan, the ITAR-TASS news agency said, citing unnamed intelligence sources.

Bin Laden is located near the Afghan city of Jalalabad, 120km east of Kabul, and has several fortified and camouflaged bases in the region, ITAR-TASS quoted "security experts" as saying.

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The Taliban has taken over the United Nations office in the southern city of Kandahar and locked up all UN communications equipment in Kabul.

UN spokeswoman Ms Stephanie Bunker said the Taliban had also taken over some Kandahar offices of non-governmental organisations, which provide emergency relief services in the country.

Most UN activities have been disrupted or have ceased, she said.

The UN has asked the authorities to let it use at least one high frequency radio to keep open communication lines with the outside world but has not received any response yet, Ms Bunker said.

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Bin Laden`s fax

Osama bin Laden broke his silence today as he called on his "Muslim brothers" in Pakistan to rise up against America in a holy war.


His statement (below) was faxed to Qatar`s al-Jazeera satellite television station.

It was typed in Arabic, signed "Osama bin Laden" in typed letters and "Osama Mohammad" in handwriting

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Saturday, September 22, 2001
Top Stories
Bin Laden`s death will not end trouble: Holbrooke
.......BRASILIA : The former US ambassador to the United Nations warned on Friday that the death of Osama bin Laden would not rid the world of the deadly threat of militant attacks. In an interview with Brazilian television channel O Globo, Richard Holbrooke said "the problem will remain," even if Afghanistan`s ruling Taleban turns over the Saudi-born militant to the United States.
......."The problem goes far beyond Osama bin Laden now, the networks that he helped establish will survive his death," said Holbrooke, who served as the ambassador to the United Nations under former President Bill Clinton.
.......The United States is pursuing bin Laden as its prime suspect in horrific attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and Pentagon near Washington last week, that left more than 6,500 dead or missing. Officials suspect other militant Islamic groups were involved as well.
.......Holbrooke also warned the conflict that will follow the attacks, whether it involves US attacks on Afghanistan or not, could lead to clashes between Islam and Christianity.
......."There is a real danger that the Islamic world and the Christian world will have a cultural clash, a civilisation clash," Holbrooke said. "That is not appropriate because the overwhelming majority of Muslims oppose this just as much as their Christian brethren."-

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Fighting within Afghanistan escalates
Pakistan withdraws envoys as fighting in north increases

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NEW DELHI: The United States is determined to root out terrorism from the international scene and would not be satisfied with punishing a few individuals, American ambassador to India Robert Blackwill said here on Monday

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Sunday, 6 Rajab 1422 (Sept. 23, 2001)

And for martyrs from their God their reward and light

To our Muslim brothers in Pakistan

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and his blessings;

I received with great sorrow the news of the murder of some of our Muslim brothers in Karachi while they were expressing their opposition to the American crusade forces and their allies on the lands of Muslims in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We ask Allah to accept them as martyrs and include them with prophets, their followers, martyrs, good doers and the like and ask that their families be gifted with patience and consolation, and bless their children and money, and reward well for their Islam.

Whoever of them left children behind, they are my children, and I am their caretaker, Allah willing.

It is no wonder that the Muslim nation in Pakistan would rush to defend its Islam, since it is considered the first line of defense for Islam in this area, just like Afghanistan was the first line of defense for itself and for Pakistan before the Russian invasion more than 20 years ago.

We hope that these brothers are among the first martyrs in Islam`s battle in this era against the new Christian-Jewish crusade led by the big crusader Bush under the flag of the Cross; this battle is considered one of Islam`s battles ...(text illegible)

We incite our Muslim brothers in Pakistan to give everything they own and are capable of to push the American crusade forces from invading Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Prophet, Peace Be Upon Him, said: Whoever didn`t fight, or prepare a fighter, or take good care of a fighter`s family, Allah will strike him with a catastrophe before Judgment Day.

I announce to you the good news my loved brothers that we are steadfast on the path of Jihad for the sake of Allah, following the example of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), with the heroic, faithful Afghan people, under the leadership of our fighter emir, who is proud of his religion, the prince of the faithful, Mullah Mohammed Omar.

We ask Allah to make him victorious over the forces of infidels and tyranny, and to crush the new Christian-Jewish crusade on the land of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

If Allah makes you victorious, none will defeat you and if He fails you, who after Him will make you victorious and on Allah the faithful shall trust.

Your brother in Islam

Osama bin Mohammed bin Laden

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CAIRO (Reuters) - The father of hijack suspect Mohamed Atta said Monday his soft-spoken son had hated Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and could not possibly be involved in this month`s attacks on the United States.

``My son hates bin Laden. That`s the only political opinion he expressed in his life,`` 65-year-old lawyer Mohamed al-Amir Atta told reporters.

``My son did not do this.``

He said his son -- once a gentle chess-loving boy who shunned military toys -- could not have been on the doomed plane because they had spoken on the telephone after the attacks.

The FBI has said it suspects Atta flew the first of two hijacked passenger planes that slammed into and destroyed the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11.

Washington has named bin Laden as its prime suspect in the attacks, which left more than 6,000 people dead or missing.

The father said his son, 33, has despised the Saudi-born militant since the 1995 bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, which has been blamed on bin Laden.

The elder Atta, his voice quivering as he spoke, said his son was a quiet boy who would never have murdered innocent people.

To underline his point, he asked reporters to hold a minute of silence for the victims in the United States, as well as victims of violence in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

``He was always a quiet, smiling child. He was religious, just like the whole family,`` Atta told reporters at a news conference hosted by the Foreign Press Association in Cairo.

``He had all the noble qualities like forgiveness and kindness, and he would avoid problems...Mohamed didn`t like to play with masculine toys like weapons. He had only one hobby, which was playing chess with me

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Ananova :



Bin Laden may take over Taliban from secret hideouts - reports

Osama is shuttling between numerous secret hideouts in Afghanistan, according to latest reports.

And he may even take over command of the Taliban forces if the US attacks the country, intelligence reports say.

Bin Laden has set up several secret command centres around Jalalabad, near the Pakistan border.

Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoting intelligence sources in Afghanistan say he is likely to take over command of Taliban in case of the US attack on Afghanistan.

Taliban officials say it has still not found bin Laden to deliver a request that he leave the country.

"I do not know exactly where he is," Taliban`s ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef said in Islamabad.

Taliban`s claim it does not know bin Laden`s whereabouts has been dismissed by the US saying it is "not going to be deterred" by such reports.

Bin Laden has urged Pakistan`s Muslim`s to `rise up` and fight any intrusion in the region from western or US forces

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin declared on Monday that Russia would support U.S. military operations in Afghanistan by funneling arms to the Afghan opposition and opening its air space for aid shipments.

In a televised speech, the Kremlin leader said Russia would widen cooperation with the internationally recognized government of Afghanistan ``and render extra aid to its armed forces in the form of arms supplies and military equipment.``

Unveiling a five-point policy plan, he said Russia was ready to offer its air space for overflights by planes carrying humanitarian supplies to regions where ``anti-terrorist`` operations were being carried out.

He also pledged that Russian intelligence services would pass on information they received about ``the infrastructure, the places where international terrorists stay and fighters` training bases.``

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SRINAGAR: Security agencies Monday said they had intercepted wireless messages from militant commanders in Afghanistan to its cadres in Kashmir asking them to join a holy war against the United States.

Senior Border Security Force official Rudrapal Singh said the elite paramilitary agency had discovered that militants were being ordered to return across the border to Pakistan and Afghanistan to take part in a possible war against the United States. "We are keeping a close watch on the situation," he said. India, according to Islamabad, has a network of military espionage agents in Pakistan. Ministry officials also said that as many as 5,000 other Pakistanis were expected to stay put in Afghanistan and fight in the event of a US attack, PTI said. It gave no other details.
A Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman said Monday that Islamabad has has withdrawn its entire embassy staff from Kabul. India is on alert along its borders with Pakistan.

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24 September 2001
Analysts Say Saddam Still Armed and Dangerous
(Iraqi Regime Forgoes $1.4 Billion in Oil-for-Food Funds) (530)
By Susan Domowitz
Washington File Staff Writer

Since the last U.N. inspectors left Iraq in 1998, Saddam Hussein has
continued to buy prohibited weapons components, and has revived Iraq`s
production of weapons of mass destruction, according to Iraq Watch, a
U.S.-based watchdog group.

At the same time, the Iraqi regime has left unused $1.4 billion in
oil-for-food funds intended for humanitarian supplies, says Gary
Milhollin, Executive Editor of Iraq Watch. The regime has chosen to
forfeit UN-supervised oil sales in order to keep the weapons program
going.

Kelly Motz, editor and researcher for Iraq Watch, says that experts
estimate that Iraq could resume manufacture of chemical and biological
agents within months of a decision to do so, and could assemble a
nuclear weapon within weeks of importing fissile material necessary to
fuel it.

Weighing Iraq`s weapons capabilities, Milhollin says that Iraq`s
biological weapons capability now represents the greatest threat
because Iraq has become nearly self-sufficient in biological weaponry.

"Tracking the biological weapons program is difficult," he says,
"because Iraq has less need for imports to maintain the program, and
because many of the inputs for the biological weapons program are
`dual-use` items, which also have legitimate civilian uses."

According Iraq Watch, Iraq also retains stocks of chemical agents from
the period of the Gulf War.

Referring to unused funds available for humanitarian purposes,
Milhollin and Motz noted that Iraq shipped $7.8 billion worth of oil
in the second half of 2000 under U.N. supervision. Such sales have
generated an unspent balance of $1.4 billion and nearly 700 million
euros in Iraq`s escrow account. Iraq`s purchases from the account
currently must be processed by the U.N.`s Office of the Iraq Programme
(OIP), but under U.N. Resolution 1284, broad categories of items have
been cleared for sale to Iraq without specific review. The categories
exempt from review include agricultural equipment, medical equipment,
oil equipment and spare parts, water and sanitation equipment, housing
supplies and electrical equipment.

Iraq Watch says that Saddam prefers to protect his weapons programs by
forgoing legitimate oil sales, and relying on oil smuggling and
bartering. Milhollin believes the Iraqi regime may be smuggling out as
much as $2 billion worth of oil a year. This money, unregulated and
unmonitored by the U.N., supports Saddam`s weapons programs, and
Saddam is now "less inclined than ever to let the inspectors back in,"
Milhollin noted.

To track Iraq`s procurement efforts in violation of the UN embargo,
Milhollin and Motz sifted through unpublished UN inspector`s reports.
Their findings and reports are available on the Iraq Watch web site,
www.iraqwatch.org. The site maintains a unique, public-access database
containing comprehensive and detailed information about buyers and
suppliers. Iraq Watch is a private, non-profit, non-partisan
organization associated with the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms
Control of the University of Wisconsin.

Iraq Watch has an impact. Within days of Iraq Watch`s publication of
information about a possible Romanian supplier to the Iraqi weapons
program, Motz said, the Romanian government launched an investigation
into alleged arms sales to Iraq in violation of the UN embargo.

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Taliban `tell farmers to start growing opium if US attacks`

Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban are telling farmers to start growing opium again if the US attacks, say reports.

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar imposed a ban last year.

Afghanistan was previously the world`s biggest supplier.

Drug enforcement agencies say they`re now expecting a massive increase in the world supply.

The price of raw opium has halved to around £170 a kilo which suggests the policy has been scrapped, sources say.

Bernard Frahi, head of the UN`s drugs control programme (UNDCP) says: "All the ingredients for illicit cultivation are there: war, continuing poverty and a breakdown in law and order. We could see a huge resumption in cultivation."

Farmers are expected to start planting poppy seeds within the next few weeks, The Guardian reports.

The country produced 75% of the world`s opium last year.

According to UN figures, the country produced around 4,600 tonnes of opium in 1999. It`s thought this year`s figure is around 100 tonnes.

Taliban officials in Islamabad were unable to confirm the ban has been lifted.

The ban was imposed because Taliban leaders said it was `un-Islamic`.

Story filed: 07:27 Tuesday 25th September 2001

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CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown has ordered banks to check their records urgently for evidence of accounts linked to Osama bin Laden as Britain joins America`s move to choke off terrorists` funds.

The action comes after President Bush signed an order freezing all assets held in the US by a list of 27 groups and individuals linked to bin Laden.

A British list already exists, kept by the Bank of England and issued through the Treasury under orders from the United Nations Council, which details 160 Afghan nationals and seven corporations. Any person or company on the list will have all assets in Britain frozen.

The Bank of England list includes Ariana Afghan Airlines, the country`s national carrier, and the Agricultural Development Bank of Afghanistan, which is based in London.

Treasury sources said that the Chancellor had told the Financial Services Authority, which regulates the banking industry, to circulate the US list to all financial institutions. `They have been reminded of their obligations under money-laundering legislation to report all suspicious transactions and monitor flows of money to and from accounts,` a Treasury spokesman said. Any links with the US banned list must be reported to the National Criminal Intelligence Service which can freeze accounts.

So far, it is understood, only one account has been frozen - at a branch of Barclays Bank in Notting Hill. FBI records show substantial funds passed through the account of Khalid Al Fawwaz, who is in jail fighting extradition in connection with the bombing of US embassies in Africa.

The Treasury believes Britain already has robust laws to prevent money laundering and funding of terrorism, but Brown is considering arguments for a new task force to hunt for accounts linked to terror groups.

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France has frozen 28 million francs in assets linked to Afghanistan`s Taliban militia and to Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said the money was in several bank accounts ordered frozen in accordance with two UN Security Council resolutions.

The resolutions, one adopted in October 1999 and the second in December 2000, allow funds linked to bin Laden or individuals and groups close to him to be seized.

The Saudi millionnaire is the prime suspect in the September 11 suicide attacks in New York and Washington.

Valero did not specify when the funds in France were frozen.

His announcement comes a day after the United States froze the assets of 27 groups and individuals with presumed terrorist links and called on its allies to follow suit.

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Interpol has officially asked its member nations to search for the Egyptian surgeon believed to be Osama bin Laden`s top deputy.

Ayman al-Zawahri is suspected of involvement in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

He is believed to be operating in Afghanistan, as is bin Laden.

Egyptian police made the request to Interpol, the Lyon-based police organisation says. Interpol circulates about 800 so-called "red notices," for wanted fugitives, each year.

The Interpol notice asked 179 member countries of Interpol to try to track down Al-Zawahri, a 50-year-old Cairo surgeon who leads the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a partner in bin Laden`s International Front.

His decision to join the International Front led to a split within Islamic Jihad because other Egyptian militants feared taking on the United States.

Interpol says he is believed to have masterminded several terrorist operations in Egypt.

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TONY BLAIR tonight warned Afghanistan`s Taliban rulers that they would become the "enemy" of Britain and its allies in the war against terrorism unless they handed over Osama bin Laden.

The Prime Minister issued the clearest signal to date that US-led military strikes in reprisal for the New York and Washington terrorist attacks could topple the regime in Kabul.

He said the military alliance now assembling - including British armed forces - had the power to do "very considerable damage" to the Taliban if they continued to block attempts to bring bin Laden to justice for the outrages in the US.

He told reporters at Downing Street: "If they stand in the way of bringing bin Laden and his associates to account, they are every bit as much our enemy as bin Laden himself. They will be treated as the enemy and their regime will be treated as the enemy.

"Military conflict there will be unless the Taliban change and respond to the ultimatum that has been delivered to them."

He underlined the coalition`s willingness to see the Taliban ousted, describing it as a regime "founded on fear and funded largely by drugs and crime" where poverty and illness were endemic and women`s rights "non-existent".

His comments were echoed by US president George W Bush who said that anyone harbouring terrorists was as "guilty" as the terrorists themselves.

He said: "We have serious problems with the Taliban government - an incredibly repressive government, a government with a value system that is hard for many in America to relate to.

"It is an incredibly repressive towards women. They have made the decision to harbour terrorists."

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Bin Laden a monster, says Saudi envoy

Saudi Arabia`s ambassador to the UK has branded Osama bin Laden "a human monster", adding he would not be sorry to see the Taliban toppled.

Ghazi Al Gosaibi says he fears the hunt for the perpetrators of the US terror attacks might become a war of the West against Islam, which he warned would destabilise the whole world.

Saudi Arabia has cut off diplomatic ties with the Taliban, leaving Pakistan as the only country in the world which recognises it.

In an interview with the BBC, Dr Al Gosaibi assured the US of Saudi Arabia`s support and said he would not "shed any tears" if the current crisis led to the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Kabul.

He added: "We are worried this is turned from a war against terrorism, which we support wholeheartedly with no reservation, into a war of America or the West against Islam.

"This is very dangerous, not for our own stability, but for the stability of the whole world."

Saudi-born Bin Laden was stripped of his citizenship following his support for terror attacks on American military bases in the country.

Dr Al Gosaibi said: "I have no doubt he is a terrorist because I have been listening to what he says and I honestly think of him as a human monster.

"A man who revels in the killing of civilians and of innocent people and who takes pride is, in my own mind, a terrorist."

In a mark of the importance the Saudi administration places on any Western military action being well-targeted and proportionate, he added: "I`ll shed a lot of tears if there are innocent people who are killed. I don`t give a tear if the Taliban regime disappears. That is a regime nobody is going to lament and I`m not going to shed a tear if Osama bin Laden disappears."

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WASHINGTON (AFX) - The US` G7 partners are reinforcing measures announced by the US yesterday to cut off terrorist funding by taking similar actions, a Treasury Department official said.
The official listed measures committed by European G7 members, Canada, and Japan in a G7 finance ministers` teleconference this morning.

Germany and Italy have committed to changing their laws to allow them to ban financial institutions from doing business with blacklisted terrorist groups and individuals, the official said.

The UK has already duplicated the US list of banned counterparties, while France has frozen 4 mln usd in assets linked to the Taliban regime of Afghanistan, the Treasury official said.

Japan similarly froze Taliban-linked assets last Saturday, while Canada has notified its financial institutions to halt dealings with the blacklisted groups.

Separately, Treasury spokesman Michele Davis said the G7 finance ministers offered "nothing but support" in a one-hour teleconference this morning, which dealt with joint efforts to shut down funding of terrorist organisations.

Davis explained that European action to duplicate the measures announced by the US yesterday, which would freeze assets of institutions which refuse to cooperate in cutting off terrorist financing, would help to "isolate" those banks that are not cooperating.

cxa/gc

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Wednesday September 26, 2001 6:20 AM


RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Saudi Arabia has given the representative of Afghanistan`s Taliban two days to leave the kingdom, hours after it severed all ties with the regime, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Saudi Arabia has repudiated its one-time ally in the harshest of terms, saying the Taliban brought dishonor to Islam and Muslims by persisting in providing a haven to terrorists.

``The Foreign Ministry summoned the charge d`affaires of the Afghan Embassy, Molawi Muttiallah, and officially informed him of the kingdom`s decision to cut all relations with the Taliban government and asked him to leave the kingdom in a period that does not exceed 48 hours,`` the official agency reported late Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia said it acted only after the Taliban rejected all urgings ``to stop harboring criminals and terrorists ... and making its land a refuge and haven for them.`` By doing so, the Taliban was ``defaming Islam and defaming Muslims` reputation in the world,`` the Saudi government said.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most influential countries in the Islamic world. Its decision to sever official ties with the Taliban followed a similar action by the United Arab Emirates on Saturday. Pakistan is now the only nation to maintain formal diplomatic contacts with Afghanistan`s strict Islamic regime.

Saudi Arabia`s move was the sharpest message yet from an Islamic nation to the Taliban, which has become increasingly isolated in the face of Washington`s demand for Osama bin Laden`s surrender.

An exiled Saudi dissident based in Afghanistan, bin Laden is America`s prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Saudi Arabia has insisted it would stand by the Afghan people themselves, and work for whatever would achieve security and prosperity for Afghans. About 200,000 Afghans live in Saudi Arabia, half of whom hold Pakistani citizenship.

There was no immediate indication that Saudi Arabia`s severing of diplomatic ties with the Taliban would be followed by a change of position on tactical support for U.S.-led offensives against terrorists.

The Saudis have condemned the attacks, but have urged that the United Nations rather than the United States lead any alliance against terror. The government has expressed reservations about the use of the kingdom`s air bases in any anti-terror campaign, fearing attacks could be launched against fellow Arab states.

Bin Laden, the son of a prominent Saudi businessman, saw his Saudi citizenship stripped for his relentless criticism of Riyadh`s ties with Washington. He objects strongly to the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, the site of two of Islam`s holiest places, Mecca and Medina.

After being exiled from Saudi Arabia, bin Laden sought refuge in Sudan, then moved to Afghanistan in 1996.

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More than 20,000 British troops are now in or near Oman in the Middle East, ready to take part in military action against Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

They are currently involved in a training exercise named Operation Saif Sareea ("operation swift sword"), which was planned long before the terrorist attacks in the United States two weeks ago.

However, the troops could easily be called upon if the UK joins the US in its planned military offensive in Afghanistan.

The UK deployment includes a 27-ship strong navel task force – the biggest Navy deployment since the Falklands War in 1982 – as well as seven Tornado aircraft.

The Navy`s flagship HMS Illustrious is leading the naval task force, itself carrying an additional 15 aircraft. The task force also includes two nuclear-powered submarines, one of which holds cruise missiles designed for land attacks.

Another 1,300 British troops are patrolling the no-fly zones over Iraq, which have been in place since the Gulf War in the early 1990s.

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Tens of thousand of Afghans took part in an anti-US demonstration in Kabul on Wednesday, the largest protest rally in the Afghan capital since the terrorist attacks on the United States two weeks ago.
The protesters marched through the streets carrying banners and shouting anti-US slogans before gathering in one of Kabul`s main squares.

Although there have been demonstrations in Kabul in the past fortnight Wednesday`s protest was by far the largest, with government employees, students and shopkeepers all taking part.

The crwod chanted "Death to the United States," "Death to Bush" and "Long Live Islam."

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China said yesterday there was no way terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden could have entered the country, and implied that suggestions to the contrary were irresponsible.

"I can tell you: There is no such possibility for Bin Laden to enter China," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said at a regular news briefing.

"We`ve taken measures in this regard," Zhu said. He warned against "baseless speculation." A British newspaper last weekend said Bin Laden had left his refuge in Afghanistan and entered China, presumably by crossing their mountainous border into China`s Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang.

China immediately questioned the reporter`s motives after the report appeared, its official Xinhua news agency reported. There were no other indications that Bin Laden was in China.

Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban, who calls him a "guest," said earlier this week they had lost track of him, though the US government says it believes the Taliban knows where he is.

China`s northwestern frontier shares both the narrow border with Afghanistan and a much

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The terror hunt is heating up overseas — from Europe to Africa and Asia.

In Spain, cops rounded up six Algerians with alleged links to terror kingpin Osama Bin Laden and to a group suspected of planning attacks on American targets throughout Europe.

In Britain, authorities pulled in a French national who was involved in an alleged plot to attack U.S. targets across Europe. France had already placed seven other suspects from the same case under formal investigation, a step before being charged.

All eight have possible ties to Bin Laden.


Mohamed Belaziz
Evidence found last week suggests the eight were part of a group scouting locations for attacks, with the U.S. Embassy in Paris a prime target.

The six people detained in Spain on Tuesday night and early yesterday allegedly belong to a faction of the Armed Islamic Group, Algeria`s most hard-line insurgency movement, Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy said.

Ties to Bin Laden

The six Algerians have not been charged but "had serious connections with international terrorism and were financially connected with terrorist Bin Laden`s organization," said Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Spanish police found forged passports and sophisticated computer equipment used to produce fake documents and airline tickets, said Rajoy.

The state news agency Efe identified the six as group leader Mohamed Boualem Khnouni, Mohamed Belaziz, Yasin Seddiki, Hakim Zerzour, Madjid Sahouane and Hocine Khouni.

Back in Britain, cops got a 48-hour extension to continue interrogating two men arrested Friday. Lotfi Raissi and Abu Imard were arrested along with another man and a woman who have been released.

The Times of London also reported that 11 of the hijackers were in Britain at some time or other in the past year. The last five left London in June.

The FBI has asked Scotland Yard to discover who was sheltering and funding the team, the newspaper said.

"We`ve gotten enormous cooperation from many countries," said Mindy Tucker, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department in Washington.

A Far Reach

The probe has reached several countries in Africa — including Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania — where Bin Laden`s Al Qaeda network has links with radicals.

Bin Laden lived in Sudan from 1991-1996 and invested millions in different industries before the Sudanese government told him he was no longer welcome.

He claims his supporters were involved in shooting down American helicopters in Somalia in 1993. The U.S. also blames him for the deadly bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Files from those incidents are open again and old leads being looked at.

"Logically, the place you would be expected to turn your attention first is where it has happened before, but the investigation is not limited to those countries," said U.S. acting Assistant Secretary of State William Bellamy.

President Bush`s quest to choke off the terrorist funding network has also led to Africa.

A "remittance banking" system that allows Somalis living abroad to transfer money in seconds back to relatives at home was likely exploited by Bin Laden, officials said.

In Washington, the Senate Banking Committee heard testimony on how Bin Laden for years — and possibly still now — used shadow accounts in such major banks as Citibank, American Express Bank, Germany`s Commerzbank, France`s Credit Lyonnais and South Africa`s Standard Bank.

Meanwhile, nations around the world started heeding Bush`s call to freeze the funding of groups linked to Bin Laden and other terror networks.

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US and Britain wanted to drop a bomb on Saddam
By Andrew Grice Political Editor
28 September 2001
Britain and the United States tried to kill Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War by dropping a bomb on him, John Major revealed last night.

But Mr Major, who was Prime Minister during the 1991 war provoked by Iraq`s invasion of Kuwait, suggested it might be wrong to assassinate Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect for the attacks on America. Interviewed on Hardtalk for BBC News 24, Mr Major said assassinations had not been Britain`s tradition in the past.

"If you meant in the war, did we try and kill Saddam Hussein by finding where he was and dropping a bomb on him, of course we did. We were at war then," he said. Asked if Britain was at war with terrorism now, he replied: "Yes, but it`s a different form of war."

Mr Major said nothing had done more harm to Islam than the "perversion" of the faith by fundamentalists such as Af-ghanistan`s Taliban regime.

He urged people to go about their daily lives, to deny terrorists the "oxygen" of thinking they had undermined democratic countries. "Ordinary people across Europe should deny the terrorists any form of victory at all," he said. "Ordinary people should, as I`m sure they soon will do, go about their ordinary lives and their ordinary business in the way they have always done. Don`t let terrorism disrupt the democratic structure, don`t give it the oxygen of believing it has undermined the democratic states they loathe so much."

The former prime minister warned the IRA that it would come under mounting pressure to put its weapons permanently beyond use. "On this point they are friendless and I think there is a huge amount of pressure that can and will be put on them over the next few weeks. If they don`t then they could break the peace process. That is what is at stake over the next few weeks," he said.

"They could break the peace process if they don`t actually surrender their weapons, but they have never been in a weaker position in terms of support than they are at the present time. I think now is a good time."

Mr Major urged moderates within the republican movement to put pressure on hardliners to agree to surrender the IRA`s weapons.

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Das Taliban-Regime in Afghanistan hat dem gesuchten mutmaßlichen Terrorchef Osama Bin Laden die Entscheidung der Religionsgelehrten übermittelt, er möge das Land freiwilligverlassen. Das meldete am Donnerstag die pakistanische Nachrichtenagentur NNI unter Berufung auf den Taliban-Botschafter in Islamabad. "Osama hat jetzt die Empfehlung der Ulema und ihre Bekräftigung durch den Amir ul Momineen erhalten", sagte Botschafter Abdul Salam Saif der privaten Agentur. Er sagte nicht, wie die Antwort Bin Ladens gelautet habe.

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The US does not know where terror suspect Osama bin Laden is hiding, Secretary of State Colin Powell has admitted.

He vows the US will hunt bin Laden down and says any country found to be harbouring him will pay the price.

Gen Powell was speaking on ITV1`s Tonight with Trevor McDonald programme.

He said: "I can`t tell you that I know where he is ... I don`t think many people know where he is. If I knew where he was right at this moment then I wouldn`t be here chatting to you.

"But we will find him in due course and those who harbour him will discover that there is a penalty for harbouring him. We have no doubt that it is him we are after and as we continue to assemble and do intelligence work, it will become known."

Gen Powell admitted the war against terrorism will be never-ending and that the current military campaign will be a long one.

"We are certainly putting together adequate military capability for whatever the President might direct," he said, "but it is a different kind of a war ... it will be a thorough campaign that will last a long time.

"There probably isn`t an exit point for this one because there will always be someone out there who tries to achieve a political aim through this kind of violence. Our goal in this conflict is to apply all the decisive power that we can to make it less and less likely for them to be successful, to find a haven."

Gen Powell, himself a New Yorker, told interviewer Sir Trevor McDonald that the attack on the World Trade Centre had affected him and his family.

He says his son, who is chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, viewed the scene of the disaster and told him: "Dad, you can`t believe - TV doesn`t do justice to the tragedy that is before us."

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Bin Laden `planning atrocities in Europe`

BY TONY HARNEY

Osama bin Laden is planning terrorist atrocities in Europe, a senior Government Minister warned.

Mounting intelligence fears and huge counter-terrorist measures suggest that Europe could be targeted, said Minister for Europe Peter Hain, pictured.

He said: "I understand he (bin Laden) is preparing for high-impact terrorist attacks in the coming weeks, if he`s able to.

"We`ve got to track him down. We`ve got to stop him."

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Bin Laden may have mass destruction arsenal



AP - US intelligence officials say Osama Bin Laden has tried to acquire weapons of mass destruction - poison gas, killer diseases, radiation bombs, or nuclear devices - but won`t discuss if he succeeded.

"Does (bin Laden) have a nuclear bomb? I`d say no," said Senator Richard Shelby, the Republican vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who is privy to secret briefings from the CIA and other US intelligence agencies. "We have to be aware of the possibility that he could launch a chemical attack or biological attack at any time. We need to prepare for it."

Since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, lawmakers and terrorism experts say they are undergoing a fundamental shift in thinking about doomsday weapons.

Now, it`s clear that whoever conducted the attacks - and the exiled Saudi bin Laden remains the chief suspect - would not hesitate to use one of these nightmare devices if given the opportunity.

But don`t panic, say the officials and experts.

"Bad guys are capable of developing these agents, but they are not very capable of delivering them," said Representative Jane Harman, a Democrat and member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. "What is new is the wanton destruction of September 11 makes clear there would be no hesitation against using them."

Shelby said bin Laden has engineers and chemists among his ranks.

CIA Director George Tenet said both bin Laden and the Palestinian group Hamas are trying to obtain chemical weapons.

"Although terrorists we`ve pre-empted still appear to be relying on conventional weapons, we know that a number of these groups are seeking chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear agents," Tenet told the Senate Intelligence Committee last year. "We are aware of several instances in which terrorists have contemplated using these materials."

In addition, Tenet said, bin Laden`s "operatives have trained to conduct attacks with toxic chemicals or biological toxins."

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US and British special forces have been in Afghanistan for two weeks searching for Osama bin Laden, according to a newspaper report.

Unidentified senior US and Pakistani officials are quoted in USA Today as saying commandos arrived in Pakistan on September 13th - two days after the attacks - and began moving into Afghanistan to capture or kill bin Laden or pin him down until the United States can launch air strikes.

Pentagon spokeswoman Ms Victoria Clarke refused to comment on the front-page story. Officials have said the US "war on terrorism" would be an unconventional battle in which commandos could play a key role.

The report, citing Pentagon officials in Washington and Pakistani military officials, says US special operations forces had landed in the Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Quetta.

Teams of three to five soldiers, supported by Black Hawk MH-60K helicopters based outside Afghanistan, focused their searches in caves and underground bunkers in southwest Afghanistan near Kandahar.

The report says the elite troops were having trouble finding bin Laden and had asked other nations for intelligence help.

Quoting US officials, it said several elite military units were involved in the effort to find bin Laden, including the US Army`s Green Berets, Navy SEALS and the British Army`s Special Air Services.

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The FBI has revealed the first evidence which links the September 11 hijackers with Osama bin Laden`s terror network.

US Attorney General John Ashcroft said investigators had so far arrested or detained more than 480 people in connection with the attacks in Washington and New York.

Ashcroft also releasing a document left behind by the hijacker saying it provided "a shocking and disturbing view into the mindsets" of those responsible.

He said: "We have not ruled out the participation of other individuals and other organisations in this attack."

He said authorities have began to put together a picture of how the attacks were planned and completed but "the picture is nowhere near fully painted."

Ashcroft said the document left behind by the hijackers contained instructions for before and during the flights as well as numerous religious references.

He said those references were "a stark reminder of how these hijackers grossly perverted the Islamic faith to justify their terroristic acts."

The FBI also released photographs of the 19 suspected hijackers, a move that was designed to bring in information from people who may have seen the men.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said there was evidence that one or more of the hijackers had had contacts with al-Qaida, the network associated with bin Laden, the exiled Saudi millionaire who is the Bush administration`s top suspect in the attacks.

[igor1]

American Airlines #11
Boeing 767
7:45 a.m. Departed Boston for Los Angeles
8:45 a.m. Crashed into North Tower of World Trade Center


http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/penttbom/aa11/11.htm



American Airlines #77
Boeing 757
8:10 a.m. Departed Dulles for Los Angeles
9:39 a.m. Crashed into Pentagon


American Airlines #77
Boeing 757
8:10 a.m. Departed Dulles for Los Angeles
9:39 a.m. Crashed into Pentagon



http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/penttbom/aa77/77.htm





United Airlines #93
Boeing 757
8:42 a.m. Departed Newark for San Francisco
10:03 a.m. Crashed in Stony Creek Township


http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/penttbom/ua93/93.htm

United Airlines #175
Boeing 767
7:58 a.m. Departed Boston for Los Angeles
9:05 a.m. Crashed into South Tower of World Trade Center



http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/penttbom/ua175/175.htm

[igor1]

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on Friday the United States was in "hot pursuit" of Osama bin Laden, but he refused to comment on reports U.S. special forces were already inside Afghanistan on the trail of the prime suspect in the attacks on New York and Washington.

Pakistan sent a delegation of revered Muslim clerics to Afghanistan on Friday, reportedly to persuade the ruling Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden and head off a military strike that Washington has threatened in response to the Sept. 11 attack by hijacked airliners that left nearly 6,500 people dead or missing.

But on the delegation`s return, a member said the clerics had not discussed the Saudi-born militant, whom the Taliban has been sheltering as a "guest."

Even as a U.S. military buildup continued within striking distance of the landlocked Central Asian nation, Bush underlined the uncharted nature of his war on terrorism, telling reporters, "There may or may not be a conventional component."

He said the United States had learned from the bloody Soviet experience in Afghanistan in the 1980s how hard it would be "to fight a guerrilla war with conventional forces."

A TIME/CNN poll released on Friday showed almost half of Americans were prepared to wait a month or longer for military strikes on Afghanistan.

Despite some political analysts claiming Americans` patience over retaliation was withering, 47 percent of respondents said they were "willing to wait" at least a month.

Refusing to comment on the special forces report or to discuss military operations in general, Bush said he would not "jeopardize any mission that we may be thinking about."

But, he added, "Make no mistake about it, we`re in hot pursuit."

Canadian Defense Minister Art Eggleton hinted on Friday Canadian servicemen might be secretly operating in Afghanistan.

Asked if Canadian forces were operating there, he told reporters: "None that I can talk about." He declined to elaborate, but the Canadian military does have a shadowy group of commandos, believed to number 250, under the name Joint Task Force Two (JTF2).

Analysts have suggested that if Canada does join any military action, JTF2 would be its likeliest contribution.

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

The FBI, deep into what has become the biggest criminal investigation in U.S. history, has arrested two more men accused of obtaining fraudulent commercial driver`s licenses to haul hazardous materials as well as a suspected middleman.

The arrests were not tied to the Sept. 11 attacks but came after U.S. officials said they have been on heightened alert over the transportation of hazardous materials to prevent possible future attacks.

The chairman of the Senate Health Committee, Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Edward Kennedy, said he would ask Bush to commit $1.6 billion to help protect the nation against bioterrorism in the wake of the attacks, citing a congressional report that found federal and local agencies ill-prepared.

In London, Britain`s Europe minister, Peter Hain, told BBC television bin Laden was planning fresh attacks. "There is evidence he is planning high-impact attacks in the world and we have got to make sure he doesn`t do it again," Hain said.

Bin Laden has denied responsibility for the coordinated strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Pakistan had been widely thought to have sent the clerics to persuade the Taliban to hand over bin Laden but Mufti Jamal, one of the delegation`s 10 members, told Reuters: "We did not discuss Osama. Osama was not on our agenda. We only discussed how war could be prevented. They told us they don`t want war."

The two sides signed a joint declaration in the southern city of Kandahar in which they agreed to hold further talks.

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) began an emergency food airlift in preparation for a massive effort to feed more than 1 million refugees fleeing an expected attack on Afghanistan.

The operation started as some aid agencies warned they might have to use air drops if overland routes are blocked.

With Afghanistan facing a major humanitarian crisis, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appealed for $584 million in fresh emergency aid to cope with up to 7.5 million Afghans set to suffer from hunger and displacement in coming months.

Bush met with Jordan`s King Abdullah, the first Arab head of state to visit the White House since the attacks, as he sought to build up a coalition in the war on terrorism.

Abdullah assured Bush he had Jordan`s "full, unequivocal support" and said most Arabs and Muslims would join the battle "to put an end to this horrible scourge of international terrorism."

But statements by leading Muslim officials and protests in several Muslim nations underlined the sensitivity of Bush`s attempts to bring Islamic states into the coalition.

The United Arab Emirates, a close U.S. ally, said Muslim states could be forced to reconsider their role in the coalition if Israel continued to kill Palestinians.

"Obviously, these killings put us all in a very awkward position to say the least. If this continues, most of us will certainly have to reconsider our role in the coalition," Information Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zaid al-Nahayan said.

But there were reports Saudi Arabia, another key U.S. ally, would allow Washington to launch military action from a base on Saudi territory against bin Laden and his Taliban protectors.

"In order to meet American requests and to comply with U.N. requirements, yes," a Saudi source familiar with Saudi foreign policy said of a Washington Post report that Saudi Arabia had signaled it would allow U.S. aircraft stationed at the Prince Sultan Air Base to launch such attacks.

ANTI-AMERICAN DEMONSTRATIONS

In Indonesia, about 4,000 protesters marched in the capital to condemn the United States, by far the largest of a growing number of protests in the world`s most populous Muslim nation. Some threatened to round up Americans and take them to the airport to be expelled.

In Pakistan, a major component in the U.S. plan to punish the Taliban if they do not hand over bin Laden, protesters surged through Peshawar, near the Afghan border, shouting "Fight, fight USA" and "We love Osama."

In the biggest anti-American demonstration in Pakistan since the current crisis began, up to 10,000 waved banners, burned an effigy of Bush and denounced President Pervez Musharraf for backing Washington in its threat to attack Afghanistan.

In Kabul, residents in the Afghan capital scurried for cover when a test of the city`s air defenses was mistaken for an American attack. Bursts of fire could be heard from the hills around Kabul, where Taliban fighters have dug in air defenses against expected U.S. attacks. A Taliban official confirmed the firing was a test.

"We all thought the war with America had began," said one resident, who was having breakfast when the firing began.

Preachers addressing Friday prayers in Kabul reflected the tension -- endorsing an earlier decision of Afghan clerics to ask bin Laden to leave voluntarily but calling on the population to fight if the United States does attack.

A senior Saudi Arabian Muslim cleric urged world leaders not to resort to violence in response to the deadly attacks on the United States, which he said were a crime under Islam.

Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Sudais, addressing worshipers at the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca, said, "From the podium of the Grand Mosque, the forum of truth and justice and peace, we call upon the world`s decision-makers to seek a common stance with us...

"Problems and negative phenomena cannot be solved through initiating violence or responding with it."

In London, prosecutors said an Algerian pilot arrested in Britain last week was a flying instructor for four hijackers involved in the attacks.

The pilot, Lotfi Raissi, 27, denied any involvement in the attacks and was ordered held in custody for a further hearing next Friday on a U.S. extradition request.

[igor1]

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--In the strongest link so far between Osama bin Laden and the Sept. 11 attacks, the indicted terrorist reportedly phoned his mother and told her to expect major news, NBC News reported Monday.

NBC cited foreign intelligence services, which said they had proof bin Laden phoned his mother two days before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"In two days, you`re going to hear big news, and you`re not going to hear from me for awhile," NBC reported bin Laden as saying.

The U.S. has blamed bin Laden for the attacks, which left thousands dead or missing and toppled the twin 110-story towers. In Afghanistan, the ruling Taliban has demanded the U.S. show proof to link bin Laden. U.K. Prime Ministrer Tony Blair said Sunday he has seen "incontrovertible" evidence.

-By Will Morton, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4370; [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires 01-10-01

[igor1]

SADDAM HUSSEIN has directed his top scientists to work exclusively on expanding his chemical and biological weapons arsenal, one of the regime`s former senior scientists has told The Telegraph.

He said Saddam has ordered the nuclear weapons programme to be shelved because it had proved too expensive. The disclosures by the nuclear physicist, a recent Iraqi defector, will add to the alarm of Western leaders who last week issued a warning of the prospect of chemical attacks on European and American targets.

Military experts said Saddam`s decision could have been linked to the attacks on New York`s World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, which investigators believe were planned years in advance.

Over the past six months about 3,000 physicists and chemists have been working flat out on secret programmes to develop both toxins and the means to deploy them to lethal effect, according to Dr al Sabiri (not his real name).

The scientist formerly worked at the Atomic Energy Organisation in Baghdad, but defected because of his growing horror of the regime. "I created death in Iraq. I had to get out," he said. Details of Dr al Sabiri`s defection cannot be revealed because of fears for his safety.

"I was asked to examine hundreds of complicated and dangerous toxins," he said. "They were very easy to use to create germs. You could put them in water or steam, throw them in the air or use them in the soil. We developed nerve gas, botulism and anthrax.

"One day a light green yellow substance, which was crystallised and packed in tins, arrived. Suddenly intelligence men came in and rushed it away. I later found out they were working on some secret project."

All these substances were tested on Iraqi prisoners, mainly Kurds and Shi`ites in Radwania jail, in west Baghdad. The projects are headed by Prof Shaher Mahmoud al Jibouri, a chemist and secret service agent. Senior Western intelligence officers confirmed the experimentation on prisoners.

"Between April and May this year, 30 prisoners died after being used in experiments," said one. Earlier this month The Telegraph revealed that at least 20 Iraqi soldiers had died and about 200 were injured after a chemical weapons training exercise had gone wrong.

Dr al Sabiri spent five years in the organisation`s Neutron Analysis and Activation Department. Scientists, paid about £10 a month, worked exclusively on analysing substances, mostly imported, in order to copy and produce more. Using a small nuclear reactor, they are able to establish the exact composition of a substance.

There was a shortage of material, which was why he was told to copy the samples that he was given. At one stage he was asked to reproduce a wax, crucial for use in firing ballistic missiles. This he did with the help of several Bulgarian scientists. "Ballistic missiles," he said, "is just one method they want to use to spread the poisons."

More importantly, he said, the regime is currently working on adapting 12 pilotless aircraft, last used in the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s. "Engineers are now working on developing their range. So far they have managed a range of 700 miles," he said.

"The planes could easily reach Israel, Iran, Turkey or Saudi Arabia. The idea is to use them to deploy the toxins." Most of the parts, he added, were imported.

A senior Western intelligence officer said last night that at least 30 front companies, mainly pharmaceutical firms, are under investigation for supplying Iraq. They are based in Italy, Thailand, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates. The companies cannot be named for legal reasons.

The defector`s disclosures refute comments by Tariq Aziz, Iraqi deputy prime minister, who last week denied that the regime had any biological weapons. Last week Paul Wolfowitz, the United States deputy defence secretary, told Nato colleagues of "the alarming coincidence between states that harbour international terrorists and those states that have active, maturing programmes of WMD [weapons of mass destruction]."

American hardliners are said to be keen to attack Iraq as soon as possible, and believe that aerial bombardment is sufficient. British defence advisers, however, have warned Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, against this.

It is unwise, they say, while there is no suitable successor to Saddam. One intelligence official added: "The other problem is, we have no idea where Saddam is."

[igor1]

SADDAM HUSSEIN has directed his top scientists to work exclusively on expanding his chemical and biological weapons arsenal, one of the regime`s former senior scientists has told The Telegraph.

He said Saddam has ordered the nuclear weapons programme to be shelved because it had proved too expensive. The disclosures by the nuclear physicist, a recent Iraqi defector, will add to the alarm of Western leaders who last week issued a warning of the prospect of chemical attacks on European and American targets.

Military experts said Saddam`s decision could have been linked to the attacks on New York`s World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, which investigators believe were planned years in advance.

Over the past six months about 3,000 physicists and chemists have been working flat out on secret programmes to develop both toxins and the means to deploy them to lethal effect, according to Dr al Sabiri (not his real name).

The scientist formerly worked at the Atomic Energy Organisation in Baghdad, but defected because of his growing horror of the regime. "I created death in Iraq. I had to get out," he said. Details of Dr al Sabiri`s defection cannot be revealed because of fears for his safety.

"I was asked to examine hundreds of complicated and dangerous toxins," he said. "They were very easy to use to create germs. You could put them in water or steam, throw them in the air or use them in the soil. We developed nerve gas, botulism and anthrax.

"One day a light green yellow substance, which was crystallised and packed in tins, arrived. Suddenly intelligence men came in and rushed it away. I later found out they were working on some secret project."

All these substances were tested on Iraqi prisoners, mainly Kurds and Shi`ites in Radwania jail, in west Baghdad. The projects are headed by Prof Shaher Mahmoud al Jibouri, a chemist and secret service agent. Senior Western intelligence officers confirmed the experimentation on prisoners.

"Between April and May this year, 30 prisoners died after being used in experiments," said one. Earlier this month The Telegraph revealed that at least 20 Iraqi soldiers had died and about 200 were injured after a chemical weapons training exercise had gone wrong.

Dr al Sabiri spent five years in the organisation`s Neutron Analysis and Activation Department. Scientists, paid about £10 a month, worked exclusively on analysing substances, mostly imported, in order to copy and produce more. Using a small nuclear reactor, they are able to establish the exact composition of a substance.

There was a shortage of material, which was why he was told to copy the samples that he was given. At one stage he was asked to reproduce a wax, crucial for use in firing ballistic missiles. This he did with the help of several Bulgarian scientists. "Ballistic missiles," he said, "is just one method they want to use to spread the poisons."

More importantly, he said, the regime is currently working on adapting 12 pilotless aircraft, last used in the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s. "Engineers are now working on developing their range. So far they have managed a range of 700 miles," he said.

"The planes could easily reach Israel, Iran, Turkey or Saudi Arabia. The idea is to use them to deploy the toxins." Most of the parts, he added, were imported.

A senior Western intelligence officer said last night that at least 30 front companies, mainly pharmaceutical firms, are under investigation for supplying Iraq. They are based in Italy, Thailand, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates. The companies cannot be named for legal reasons.

The defector`s disclosures refute comments by Tariq Aziz, Iraqi deputy prime minister, who last week denied that the regime had any biological weapons. Last week Paul Wolfowitz, the United States deputy defence secretary, told Nato colleagues of "the alarming coincidence between states that harbour international terrorists and those states that have active, maturing programmes of WMD [weapons of mass destruction]."

American hardliners are said to be keen to attack Iraq as soon as possible, and believe that aerial bombardment is sufficient. British defence advisers, however, have warned Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, against this.

It is unwise, they say, while there is no suitable successor to Saddam. One intelligence official added: "The other problem is, we have no idea where Saddam is."

[igor1]

ALERT: British journalist arrested by the Taliban
This text is also available in: Français

Originator: Reporters sans frontières (RSF)
Date: 2001-10-01
Country: AFGHANISTAN
Person(s): Yvonne Ridley
Target(s): journalist(s)
Source: RSF
Type(s) of violation(s): arrested, detained



(RSF/IFEX) - In a letter to Taliban Foreign Minister Moulvi Wakil Ahmad Motawakil, RSF protested the arrest of journalist Yvonne Ridley from the British weekly “Sunday Express”. "The reporter was only exercising her right to inform the international public about the situation inside Afghanistan," said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. The organisation urged the minister to see to it that the British journalist and her two guides are released. "Arresting reporters who are only providing first hand accounts of the Afghan people’s situation is not the best way to reassure international critics," added Ménard.

According to information obtained by RSF, on 28 September 2001, the Taliban militia arrested Ridley in Daur Buba district (near Jalalabad, fifteen kilometres from the Pakistani border). The journalist, along with two "guides" of unknown nationality, was wearing a burqah, the Afghan attire and veil imposed on women by the Taliban. According to the Afghan Islamic Press agency that provided the information, the Taliban also seized the journalist’s camera. The authorities accuse Ridley of having entered Afghanistan "illegally". She allegedly had no passport with her. The journalist is currently detained in Jalalabad.

Contacted by RSF, Jim Murray, the “Sunday Express” tabloid’s news editor, confirmed that Ridley had crossed the border on 26 September with two guides, one of whom was a driver who claimed to know the area "very well." She had not contacted the newspaper since arriving in Afghanistan, although she had a mobile phone in her possession. Ridley, aged 43, is a very experienced reporter who had covered several conflicts. She had been in Pakistan for several days with a colleague from the “Daily Express” to cover the situation in the country and at the border. Murray told RSF he had no immediate information about Ridley`s current situation.

Ridley is the first foreign journalist to have been arrested by the Taliban since the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States. Hundreds of reporters are now in Pakistan and some of them have been trying to enter Afghanistan. Last week, a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) crew disguised as Afghan women managed to get inside Afghanistan and film in villages near the border.

In its report titled "The Taliban and the media", published in September 2000, RSF wrote: "In August 2000 the authorities introduced strict regulations to cover the work of foreign reporters and special correspondents. On arrival in Kabul, they are given a list of "21 points to be respected". The first is to give a true account of "what is really happening in Afghanistan" and not to "offend the people`s feelings". Next comes a long litany of recommendations which might amount to no more than bureaucratic harassment in other countries but which testify to the Afghan authorities` distrust of the foreign press and their determination to maintain strict control of reporters on Afghan soil. A document published by the information and culture department states that foreign journalists are not allowed to "go into private houses", "interview an Afghan woman without the department`s permission" or "photograph or film people". Journalists are also supposed to tell the department when they travel outside Kabul and to respect the country`s "no-go areas"… No penalties for the infringement of these regulations are specified in the documents issued by the authorities.” (see IFEX alert of 27 September 2000). The report is available on RSF’s website: www.rsf.org.


More Information
For further information, contact Vincent Brossel at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail], Internet: http://www.rsf.fr

[igor1]

Bin Laden seen in Kabul as net tightens

Richard Norton-Taylor
Tuesday October 2, 2001
The Guardian

Osama bin Laden was in Kabul last week and US and British intelligence agencies have a "pretty good idea" where he is now, well-placed sources have told the Guardian.
The disclosure suggests that western intelligence has a much clearer picture of Bin Laden`s recent movements than has been admitted, either by Washington and London or by the Taliban.

Bin Laden and his close circle of supporters are America`s top target.

His capture or death would reduce the pressure for wider military action against Afghanistan.

It is not clear whether he was spotted by American spy satellites or whether the information was provided by Pakistan`s intelligence service, the ISI.

The ISI, which has had extremely close relations with the Taliban, is said by western sources to be cooperating well with western intelligence agencies.

The presence in the Afghan capital of the prime suspect behind the September 11 attacks on the US could help to explain recent statements by the Taliban saying they know where he is.

The Taliban said on Sunday that he was being held in a secret location "for his safety and security".

According to one report, in the days immediately following the attack, Bin Laden was hiding in a mountainous area near Kandahar, the seat of the Taliban`s power in southern Afghanistan.

However, despite the ISI`s cooperation and apparently firm intelligence that Bin Laden was in Kabul last week, defence sources say they are deeply frustrated at the failure to get "real-time" or what they call "actionable" intelligence. They are scanning Afghanistan for what they call a "window of opportunity" to find Bin Laden and his associates.

With the latest communications technology, there is a delay of some hours between a sighting of a target from a satellite and a military strike against it, defence sources say.

The failure so far to get real-time intelligence indicates that any special forces that may be on the ground have not found Bin Laden and that Pakistan`s ISI is not prepared to share its latest intelligence with the US.

Even if timely intelligence locates Bin Laden in Kabul, the US and Britain would be faced with a serious dilemma, Whitehall sources admit. Any decision to launch air strikes on the capital, even with precision weapons, would carry the risk of heavy civilian casualties.

The American and British governments are determined to limit such risks, partly because of the need to maintain as broad an international coalition as possible, partly to avoid provoking retaliation by groups of protesters at home.

The Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, was reported yesterday to have said in a radio address that Afghhans should not worry about a US attack because "Americans don`t have the courage to come here".

US and British intelligence agencies are throwing all their resources at their disposal in the attempt to locate Bin Laden. They include US spy satellites and GCHQ listening posts.

Defence sources still insist they are pursuing a policy of what they call "strategic patience".

However, they add that pressure is mounting to launch air strikes to "coerce" the Taliban into handing over Bin Laden. These would be aimed at Bin Laden training camps and Taliban military bases.

[igor1]

Jaish-e-Muhammad, the militant outfit behind Monday`s attack on Jammu and Kashmir Assembly complex has "direct links with the Taliban", a top police official claimed on Tuesday.
"Taliban and Jaish-e-Muhammad have direct links and both are involved in heinous crimes. The attacks carried out by terrorists in the US and in Jammu and Kashmir have the "same chain and system", the director general of state police said.

"The militants gave a deceptive interception that foreign militants had been called back by the Taliban to help them resist the possible US attack", the police chief said.

"The wrong information was provided to mislead the forces here", he said adding "infiltration of militants from the border was still continuing".

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[igor1]

United States special forces are hunting for Osama bin Laden in northeastern Afghanistan`s isolated Pamir mountains, a Pakistani press report said Tuesday quoting "highly reliable sources".
The News said bin Laden had dug himself and 1,000 followers into a former Soviet base in the Wakhan Corridor, the "pan handle" of Afghanistan where the borders of Afghanistan, China, Tajikistan and Pakistan meet.

It said the Taliban had thrown decoys in the south of the country to create the illusion that bin Laden was hiding out near Kandahar or Uruzgan in the southern Taliban heartland, while he was busy rehabilitating a former Soviet base.

From Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the area can only be reached by travelling through opposition held territory or through northern Pakistan.

The report said the base was situated near the village of Buzi Gunbad, and nestled between the towering peaks of the Pamir mountains which rise to an altitude of more than 7,500 meters.

The News said Russia -- which had annexed the Wakhan corridor during the 1980`s -- had given the United States detailed maps of the area.

[igor1]

QUETTA, Pakistan, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of Afghanistan`s Taliban rulers marched through the streets of the Pakistan border city of Quetta on Tuesday, denouncing U.S. President George W. Bush as a "terrorist" and Pakistan`s military ruler, Genera Pervez Musharraf, as a traitor.

In a carefully stage-managed piece of political theatre, scores of foreign journalists confined to their hotel by armed police watched through, wrought-iron gates as the chanting crowds of Afghans and Pakistanis passed by, beat an effigy of Bush with sticks, waved portraits of Osama bin Laden and screamed "Death to America".

The rally started as a welcome for Fazlur Rehman, head of Pakistan`s radical Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI), who returned to Quetta after a nationwide tour. The procession of an estimated 2,000 people then headed through the centre of the garrison town, directly past the entrance of the closely-guarded Serena Hotel.

The white silk turbans of Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban were much in evidence. So-called "jihadis" -- young Pakistani radicals, many of them students at Pakistan Islamic schools or madrassas who often volunteer to fight in disputed Kashmir or Afghanistan -- waved green-and-white flags and called for a holy war against the United States.

Despite the noise and dust, the mood was cheerful by south Asian standards and the protest seemed tame.

POLICE KEEP CLOSE WATCH

Pakistani police armed with teargas launchers and batons controlled the route, channelling the marchers and busloads of Taliban enthusiasts to the other side of town for a mass rally.

They also formed up in ranks inside the hotel gates to stop journalists from trying to break out of the premises, and used their batons to force TV crews back.

At one stage there seemed to be two protests -- one staged by Taliban supporters and one by foreign media.

The JUI is a populist Islamic movement that founded the Taliban among refugees from neighbouring Afghanistan. In turn, the Taliban conquered much of the country following the end of the Soviet occupation in 1989.

The Taliban stands accused by the Bush administration of sheltering Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born dissident named as chief suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

General Musharraf says he supports Bush`s so called "war on terrorism" despite Pakistan`s previous support for the Taliban against its foes, Afghanistan`s Northern Alliance.

The Taliban are numerous in Pakistan`s border provinces, running mosques and large numbers of madrassas.

Foreign journalists arriving in Quetta have been restricted in their movements, and require official permission to leave the city.

The visitors are obliged to accept a police escort wherever they go. On Tuesday, they were not allowed to leave their hotels for much of the day.

Police said it was precautionary move to ensure their safety.

Safi Wasiuddin, a retired Pakistani army major who runs his own private security firm watched the demonstration, scorn written all over his face.

"It`s a case of barking dogs don`t bite," he said. "Tell this lot you`re putting them in trucks and taking them over the border to fight for the Taliban and they`d disappear off the streets in an instant."

[igor1]

US gives NATO proof of bin Laden`s guilt
NATO said Tuesday the US had furnished the necessary proof that Osama bin Laden`s al-Qaeda network was behind the September 11 attacks against Washington and New York, clearing the way to activate its "all-for-one" Article Five pact.

The mutual defence clause in the alliance`s founding treaty says an attack from abroad on any ally may be treated as an attack against them all.

"The facts are clear" on links between bin Laden, al-Qaeda and Afghanistan, NATO chief George Robertson told reporters after a meeting with Washington`s special anti-terrorism envoy.

"This confirms that the attack was directed from abroad," he said, adding that the proof cleared the way for activating the key NATO clause for the first time in the alliance`s 52-year history.

Mr Robertson made the announcement after allied ambassadors met with Francis Taylor, US ambassador at large and coordinator for counter-terrorism.

[igor1]

PARIS, France (CNN) -- An Algerian arrested in Dubai has told prosecutors that he was recruited and trained by a key aide to Osama bin Laden and his target was the U.S. Embassy in Paris, several media outlets reported on Tuesday.

[igor1]

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Dieser Beitrag wurde vom System automatisch gesperrt. Bei Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an [e-mail]

[igor1]

Terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has said he has no difficulty in finding a safer place outside Afghanistan as he has hideouts everywhere, from Indonesia to Algeria, Chechnya to Kashmir and Bosnia to Sudan.
In an interview to Pakistan’s Urdu weekly Takbeer, Bin Laden said there was no problem in finding hideouts from where he can carry out his “mission”.

“I am not afraid of death because I have to kiss martyrdom one day and I pray to God to ordain martyrdom,” Bin Laden, prime suspect in last month’s terror strikes in the US, was quoted as saying.

The weekly has not specified from where and when it obtained the interview.

Stating that he considered Pakistan a sacred land and abode of pure people, Bin Laden said these people (Pakistanis) would protect him without caring for their lives.

“Pakistan is a great hope for the Muslims of the entire world... Pakistanis are ready to fight against the enemies of Islam shoulder to shoulder with Taliban.” He said had there been such “valiant Muslims in two other Muslim states”, there would have been no dominance of the West over the world.

Denying involvement of any of his compatriots in the suicide attacks in the US, Bin Laden said Islam prohibits killing of innocent people.

He alleged that the attacks may be the handiwork of Israel, Russia, India or Serbia.

He said freezing of assets of his network Al-Qaeda would make no difference because the organisation has more than three such alternative financial systems which are independent.

He said the main task of Al-Qaeda is to “awaken” Muslims so that they could wage jehad against “infidels”.

“We are not against any Muslim country rather we are against those Muslim rulers who are out to make the countrymen slaves of infidels.”

Alleging that Americans are slaves of these Jews, Bin Laden said: “They are bound to follow those policies that Jews are making for them.”

Stating that Al-Qaeda wants to rid Americans of Jewish influence, he said his organisation does not want to punish innocent Americans “rather it wants to punish Israelis which should serve as an eye-opener to them for generations to come”.

[igor1]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)--Thunderous explosions and the rattle of anti-aircraft fire were heard Sunday night in the Afghan capital Kabul. Electricity was shut off throughout the city.

The first explosions could be heard about 12:27 p.m. EDT (1627 GMT). Five large explosions shook the city, followed by the sounds of anti-aircraft fire.

Power went off throughout the city almost immediately after the first of five thunderous blasts.

There was no indication of what caused the blasts, which appeared to have been in the southwest of the city.

(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

[igor1]

Ananova :



Its war - Allies attack Kabul

Allied air strikes have begun on Kabul just moments ago it is reported.

At least four bombs have been dropped on the city.

The White House has said the offensive against terrorism has begun. President George W. Bush will be speaking to the nation at the White House within minutes.

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The United States has begun its military operation in Afghanistan.
"We are beginning another front in our war against terrorism so freedom can prevail over fear," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

There were reports of loud explosions and anti-aircraft fire in the Afghan capital Kabul and electricity supplies are also said to have been cut in the city.

US President George Bush is to address the nation shortly, and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will speak immediately afterwards.

Meanwhile, the Taleban says it has sent 8,000 troops to its border with Uzbekistan, which has given the US access to an air base for its anti-terrorism campaign.

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01:02 PM

*DJ Bush: US Strikes Against Terror Camps In Afghanistan

(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1702GMT*DJ Bush: US, British Military Action Begun In Afghanistan


(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1706GMT*DJ Bush: `Targeted Actions` Vs Taliban, Terrorist Network

(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some leading U.S. lawmakers said Sunday that Iraq will be a likely next target in the war on terrorism.

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, said any action against Iraq, however, would come later, after the United States moves against Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, and those who harbor him.

President Bush has declared a war on terrorism, beginning with those responsible for the attacks in which hijackers crashed commercial airliners into the World Trade Center twin towers and the Pentagon, killing nearly 5,600 people. A fourth plane went down in rural Pennsylvania.

Lott, speaking as preparations were under way for a U.S.-led strike against the Taliban hosts of bin Laden in Afghanistan, said recent comments by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz that Iraq would become a target at some point were "probably right."

"One adviser that we have met with says to remember that revenge is better eaten cold. In other words, you know, take your time, have a plan, go after your first target, second target," Lott said on "Fox News Sunday."

"Somewhere down the line we`re going to have to deal with Iraq. Clearly, they do have their own form of terrorism, and they still have Saddam Hussein. So we`re going to have to contend with that problem but, I think, probably a little later down the line," he said.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut Democrat and former vice presidential candidate, said reported contacts between the hijackers and Iraqi intelligence officials may justify U.S. action against Baghdad in the future.

"Yes, it may, and it depends, frankly, on what the evidence is," Lieberman said. "If the trail leads in this case to Iraq and contact with the attacks of September 11 or with terrorism generally, we have to go at them."

Lott also said he was "a little disappointed but not particularly surprised" by the lack of support from some other countries for the U.S.-led effort to combat terrorism.

While lauding British Prime Minister Tony Blair, he said, "I would hope that, you know, some of our other allies, like the French, would do more. The Germans appear to be doing more."

"Clearly, we need their aid. We`ve done so much to help them over the past century and now we need a little help in fighting a common enemy," Lott said. "This is not just about the United States and terrorism. Terrorism has hit so many of them. They ought to be with us."

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Prime Minister Tony Blair will address the nation Sunday evening shortly after US President George Bush speaks from the White House, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said.

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How is Britain going to pay for this war?


AS military action draws closer, we have been confronted with the prospect that taxes may have to rise to pay for it. But this is yet a further attempt to spin us into imbecility.

We do not know the extent of any military action, and thus the extent of any extra claims upon the Exchequer. Even so, we can establish some perspective. In modern conditions, minor wars are relatively cheap.

It is true that weapons seem staggeringly expensive. According to Jane`s Defence, for instance, each Tomahawk cruise missile, of the sort that could be fired from Britain`s submarines, costs about £1m. So umpteen of them would set us back a bob or two.

But partly because of the effectiveness of modern weapons, and partly because we do not have very many means of deploying them, not many of them will be used.

Although the authorities are understandably cagey about this, it is unlikely that more than about 20 Tomahawks will be deployed. And similarly for other weapons. Accordingly, it is perfectly possible that the overall cost of this operation will be only a few hundred million pounds. That is small beer for the public finances.

Previous wars illustrate the point. The Falklands War, which the UK conducted alone in 1982, cost £2bn, or only 0.3 per cent of gross domestic product, and 0.6 per cent of government spending.

Admittedly, the amount would be about double in today`s money, but this figure covers not only the campaign but also the cost of subsequently garrisoning troops.

How is Britain going to pay for this war? | Wider still and wider | This is not the late 1980s | Fooling everybody some of the time



Wider still and wider


THE impact of the international crisis, though, could be to persuade the Government to spend more on defence for many years to come. Our armed forces are already over-stretched even before Mr Blair begins his mission to sort out the Congo and the rest of the world.


Click to enlarge
If you go back a mere quarter century, as our chart shows, social security was easily the biggest spender but defence, education and health each accounted for about 10 per cent of total government spending.

Since then, the shares accounted for by social security and education have risen a few percentage points, health has shot up, and defence has very nearly halved. Our pie chart reveals that defence now accounts for some 6 per cent of total government spending, about a third of what we spend on health and about a fifth of social security spending.

A comparison I find illuminating is between spending on defence and on "law, order and protective services" - police, prisons, courts etc.

A quarter of a century ago, we spent on this category less than 40 per cent of what we spent on defence. Now we spend about the same. That`s right, about as much defending ourselves from thugs, burglars etc as on the army, navy and air force. There`s something wrong somewhere.

But the good news from a financial point of view is that since defence has shrunk so much, a significant increase in resources could be secured for not much money. A 10 per cent increase in the defence budget would cost not much more than £2bn, or about 1p on the standard rate of income tax, or just a couple of Millennium Domes.

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WASHINGTON (AFX) - The US has launched military operations against Afghanistan after the Taliban leadership failed to meet US demands to hand over Osama Bin Laden and dismantle terrorist camps in the country, President George W Bush announced.
"None of these demands were met," he said in a national address from the White House shortly following reports of explosions in Afghanistan.

In an operation called "Enduring Freedom", Bush said the US, along with the UK, will disrupt communications for the Taliban and punish them for not complying with demands issued over two weeks ago.

"Now the Taliban will pay a price," Bush said.

He cautioned that patience will be needed as, "it will take time to achieve our goals."

The President also said over 40 countries have granted air transit or landing rights in the operation.

cxa/ob

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ISLAMABAD (AFX) - A Taliban command base at the airport in the Islamic militia`s southern Afghan stronghold of Kandahar has been destroyed, CNN reported.

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The eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad was under attack tonight, CNN reported.

The channel said it had heard by telephone that the target appeared to be the airport near the city.

Northern Alliance Defence Minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah said at least three training camps near Jalalabad may have been hit.

The attack came around 15 minutes after the capital, Kabul, and the southern city of Kandahar were also hit by air raids.

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LONDON (Reuters) - British forces are involved in Sunday`s strikes against Afghanistan alongside the United States, a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair`s office has said.
"We can confirm that British forces are engaged in the military action that has begun against targets in Afghanistan," the spokesman said.

Blair is expected to make a statement shortly at his Downing Street office.

U.S. President George W. Bush earlier announced the start of hostilities against Kabul.

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Missiles from US and UK used in the attacks

Cruise missiles from both American and British ships are believed to have been used in the attacks on Afghanistan.

Reports from The Pentagon say the attacks began with missiles from both the UK and US military.

At least two American ships were involved in the attacks.

According to CNN, Taliban air defences, terrorist camps and other strategic camps were targeted in the attacks

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US targets terrorist camps, air bases in attack on Afghanistan
Terrorist camps, air bases and air defence installations were in the first set of targets of US air strikes against Afghanistan, a US defence official said Sunday.

The strikes were the first wave of a series of military actions against Afghanistan`s Taliban rulers and the al-Qaeda terrorist network accused of carrying out the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

"It`s going to be shake and bake until we smoke them out," the official said.

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The full text of US President George W. Bush`s announcement that US and British forces have begun attacking Afghanistan:

"On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al-Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime.

We are joined in this operation by our staunch friend, Great Britain. Other close friends, including Canada, Australia, Germany and France, have pledged forces as the operation unfolds.

More than 40 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and across Asia have granted air transit or landing rights. Many more have shared intelligence. We are supported by the collective will of the world.

More than two weeks ago, I gave Taliban leaders a series of clear and specific demands: Close terrorist training camps. Hand over leaders of the al-Qaeda network, and return all foreign nationals, including American citizens unjustly detained in our country.

None of these demands were met. And now, the Taliban will pay a price.

By destroying camps and disrupting communications, we will make it more difficult for the terror network to train new recruits and coordinate their evil plans.

Initially the terrorists may burrow deeper into caves and other entrenched hiding places. Our military action is also designed to clear the way for sustained, comprehensive and relentless operations to drive them out and bring them to justice.

At the same time, the oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of America and our allies. As we strike military targets, we will also drop food, medicine and supplies to the starving and suffering men and women and children of Afghanistan.

The United States of America is a friend to the Afghan people, and we are the friends of almost a billion worldwide who practice the Islamic faith.

The United States of America is an enemy of those who aid terrorists and of the barbaric criminals who profane a great religion by committing murder in its name.

This military action is a part of our campaign against terrorism, another front in a war that has already been joined through diplomacy, intelligence, the freezing of financial assets and the arrests of known terrorists by law enforcement agents in 38 countries.

Given the nature and reach of our enemies, we will win this conflict by the patient accumulation of successes, by meeting a series of challenges with determination and will and purpose.

Today we focus on Afghanistan, but the battle is broader. Every nation has a choice to make. In this conflict, there is no neutral ground. If any government sponsors the outlaws and killers of innocents, they have become outlaws and murderers themselves. And they will take that lonely path at their own peril.

I`m speaking to you today from the Treaty Room of the White House, a place where American presidents have worked for peace.

We`re a peaceful nation. Yet, as we have learned, so suddenly and so tragically, there can be no peace in a world of sudden terror. In the face of today`s new threat, the only way to pursue peace is to pursue those who threaten it.

We did not ask for this mission, but we will fulfill it.

The name of today`s military operation is Enduring Freedom. We defend not only our precious freedoms, but also the freedom of people everywhere to live and raise their children free from fear.

I know many Americans feel fear today. And our government is taking strong precautions. All law enforcement and intelligence agencies are working aggressively around America, around the world and around the clock.

At my request, many governors have activated the National Guard to strengthen airport security. We have called up reserves to reinforce our military capability and strengthen the protection of our homeland.

In the months ahead, our patience will be one of our strengths -- patience with the long waits that will result from tighter security, patience and understanding that it will take time to achieve our goals, patience in all the sacrifices that may come.

Today, those sacrifices are being made by members of our armed forces who now defend us so far from home, and by their proud and worried families.

A commander in chief sends America`s sons and daughters into battle in a foreign land only after the greatest care and a lot of prayer.

We ask a lot of those who wear our uniform. We ask them to leave their loved ones, to travel great distances, to risk injury, even to be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice of their lives.

They are dedicated. They are honorable. They represent the best of our country, and we are grateful.

To all the men and women in our military, every sailor, every soldier, every airman, every Coast Guardsman, every Marine, I say this: Your mission is defined. The objectives are clear. Your goal is just. You have my full confidence, and you will have every tool you need to carry out your duty.

I recently received a touching letter that says a lot about the state of America in these difficult times, a letter from a fourth-grade girl with a father in the military.

"As much as I don`t want my dad to fight," she wrote, "I`m willing to give him to you."

This is a precious gift. The greatest she could give. This young girl knows what America is all about.

Since September 11, an entire generation of young Americans has gained new understanding of the value of freedom and its cost and duty and its sacrifice.

The battle is now joined on many fronts. We will not waiver, we will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail.

Thank you. May God continue to bless America.

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Top Of The Hour
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Bush: US Military Has Begun Strikes In Afghanistan>N/NWS
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Afghanistan`s Taliban militia has condemned US-led attacks against Afghanistan as a "terrorist act" and said it would not deliver Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden to the United States, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported.

"The US attack is a terrorist act," AIP quoted Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Mr Abdul Salam Zaeef as saying, as several Afghan cities came under heavy air and missile attack.

"We cannot hand over Osama to the United States," Mr Zaeef said.

"This is an attack on an independent country. We will fight until our last breath. America will be responsible for the killing of poor people," he said.

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Two banks owned by the Taliban government and blacklisted by the United Nations still have active operations in London, The Observer can reveal.
The disclosures will embarrass the British authorities and Chancellor Gordon Brown who last week pledged to clean up the City`s image as a haven for outlawed regimes and terrorists.

Afghan National Credit and Finance, which runs its operations from the fourth floor of an office block on the edge of the City, still has control of more than £10 million of assets.

A joint investigation with German magazine Der Spiegel has revealed the company is run by 48-year-old British `bank officer` Roger Ivett, who lives in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, and 51-year-old Muhammed Yailaqi, an Afghan who lives in Stanmore, Middlesex.

According to the company`s latest accounts it is a `London subsidiary of Banke Millie Afghan Kabul, a nationalised company of the Islamic State of Afghanistan`. Banke Millie was among seven corporations blacklisted by the UN in April 2000 as part of a sanctions regime against the Taliban. British authorities should have immediately frozen the assets of these institutions and any related companies.

Yet the Bank of England froze only £6.2m of the company`s £16.3m worth of assets. The Financial Services Authority, did however, remove its British banking licence in May 2000.

Last year the company made a profit of more than £58,000 and Ivett and Yailaqi were paid a salary of more than £100,000 each. Both directors also received personal loans of more than £15,000 from the bank. There is no suggestion that either the directors or company have acted illegally. The group has an associate company in New York, the Afghan American Trading Co Inc.

A review of the business last year states: `The continuing unsettled situation in Afghanistan has adversely affected business activity. The directors are hopeful however that the situation in Afghanistan may improve and that the level of business will increase as a result.`

Despite repeated attempts to interview Ivett, he refused to

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KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (AP)--The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia on Sunday warned thousands of U.S. citizens in the country to be more cautious following a bombing that killed an American and another foreigner.

Some U.S. expatriates said Saturday`s bombing, coming after a series of local bomb attacks against foreigners and the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the U.S., had prompted them to consider sending their families out of Saudi Arabia.

The Embassy in Riyadh urged Americans Sunday "to review their own personal security practices, to be attentive to their surroundings and to exercise caution."

The bombing on a busy shopping street in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar killed an American and another foreigner, whose nationality was not immediately determined.

It also injured another American, a Briton and two Filipinos, said a King Fahd Hospital spokesman. The nationality of a fifth injured person was not immediately known. The names of the Americans were withheld while their families were being notified.

On Sunday, investigators wearing gloves searched for evidence in the shards of glass covering the street.

Tensions have been high in Saudi Arabia since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Several of the suspects in those attacks are Saudis, including alleged mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Rudy Robolledo, a 53-year-old oil industry worker from Tulsa, Okla. who has lived in Khobar for nine years, said he and his wife were restricting their movements to home and work.

"I`m very concerned and I`m worried about how things are developing here," Robolledo said.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said there are about 11,000 U.S. civilians in the Khobar area, many employed in the oil and construction industries. Many live in heavily guarded company compounds that contain offices, shops and schools.

When they venture out, it is often to places like King Khaled Street, where Saturday`s bombing occurred. The street was lined with shops selling souvenirs, electronics and designer clothes.

Shopkeepers in the area Sunday said they had relied on American customers and that business had been slow since Sept. 11.

Shopping areas frequented by foreigners have been targeted in bombings against foreigners in the past year. Diplomats and other sources inside the kingdom said those blasts may have been part of a gang war between smugglers of alcohol, which is strictly forbidden in Saudi Arabia but not difficult to obtain.

Three British men were arrested in Saudi Arabia in connection with some of the previous bombings and confessed on state-run TV, but they did not give a motive.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah said the perpetrators of Saturday`s attack "will be brought to justice," describing the explosion as "wrongful and cowardly" in comments carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

In the neighboring Persian Gulf country of Kuwait, the Cabinet said the bombing was a "shameful, criminal act aimed at destabilizing security" in Saudi Arabia and "terrorizing the innocent."

In 1996, 19 U.S. servicemen were killed when members of the dissident Saudi Hezbollah group bombed the Khobar Towers complex in Dhahran, near Khobar. U.S. prosecutors have indicted 14 people in that case.

That attack prompted U.S. military personnel to move to Prince Sultan Air Base in the Saudi desert.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1822GMT Copyright (c) 2001 , Dow Jones & Company Inc

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Bin Laden says war on Afghanistan is `war on Islam`

Osama bin Laden has spoken publicly for the first time about the September 11 attacks on the US.

During a video thought to have been filmed recently, bin Laden talked about a war on Islam.

It is unclear if he was filmed prior to the US-led retaliation on Afghanistan.

The video was released by the Al-Jazeera satellite channel.

Bin Laden was shown dressed in fatigues and an Afghan headdress, sitting quietly next to his spokesman as the spokesman read the statement.

"What happened in the United States is a natural reaction to the ignorant policy of the United States," the statement read by Suleiman Abu Gheit said.

"If it continues with this policy, the sons of Islam will not stop their struggle. The American people have to know that what is happening to them now is the result of their support of this policy," the statement said.

"The war against Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden is a war on Islam."

Bin Laden himself took the microphone and said: "America was hit by God in one of its softest spots. America is full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that."

Although he praised the attacks he did not admit responsibility for them.

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Kairo/Kabul (dpa) - Der mutmaßliche Terroristenführer Osama bin Laden hat offenbar den «Heilgen Krieg»
gegen die USA begonnen. Der arabische TV-Sender «Al-Dschasira» strahlte am Sonntag abend kurz nach den
ersten amerikanischen Angriffen auf Afghanistan ein neues Video von bin Laden aus.

Das Video zeigte den saudischen Terroristenführer zusammen mit dem ägyptischen «Terror-Doktor» Aiman el
Zawahiri und dem Sprecher der Terrororganisation «El Kaida», Suleiman Abu Gheith. Der Sprecher
bezeichnete die Terroranschläge in den USA als «natürlichen Vorfall». «Dies ist eine Schlacht zwischen dem
Glauben und dem Unglauben», sagte er. «Der Heilige Krieg gegen die Juden und Christen hat begonnen», rief
er.

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US and British forces on Sunday attacked bases of Afghanistan`s Taliban and terrorist bases in five areas of the country, Opposition spokesman Abdullah Abdulla said.
"A few cities in Afghanistan have been hit, Taliban bases as well as terrorist bases have been hit," the Northern Alliance spokesman said in an interview with CNN broadcast from Opposition frontlines north of Kabul.

He said his forces were in "close contact" with the United States and that anti-aircraft batteries near the Capital Kabul had been hit, as well "at least three terrorist camps" near Jalalabad, east of Kabul.

In addition, a Taliban airbase in the northern province of Kunduz was targeted, as were targets in the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and the western province of Farabh, he said.

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DJ Rumsfeld: Taliban Bringing "Great Harm" To Afghans


(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1848GMT

*DJ US Rumsfeld: Aiming At Taliban Terror Targets

(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1849GMT*DJ US Rumsfeld: Support Afghan People Against Terrorists


(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1851GMT*DJ US General: Used 40 Aircrfaft, Fired 50 Missiles


(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1852GMT*DJ REPEAT: US General: Used 40 Aircraft, Fired 50 Missiles


(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1852GMT*DJ Rumsfeld: Food Drops In Afghanistan Have Begun


(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1854GMT*DJ Rumsfeld: U.S. Didn`t Target Bin Laden In Strikes


(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1856GMT*DJ Rumsfeld: No Assessment Yet On Success Of Strikes


(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1856GMT*DJ Rumsfeld: U.S. Military Action Will Be Sustained


(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

1858GMT*DJ Rumsfeld: Taliban Bringing "Great Harm" To Afghans

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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The world`s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, and his protector, the leader of Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, have survived the first wave of U.S. attacks, according to the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan.
Asked if bin Laden and Mullah Omar were still alive after the strikes on cities across Afghanistan, Ambassador Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef told reporters on Sunday: "Thanks be to God."

The attacks were a sign of U.S. arrogance and expansionism, Zaeef said, condemning the strikes as terrorist acts.

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Afghan opposition shells Taliban after U.S. strikes
SARI SAYAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan opposition forces have launched a heavy barrage of shelling on Taliban positions north of the capital, Kabul, following the launch of U.S. military action.


Witnesses heard and saw shells from 122 mm howitzers explode on Taliban front line positions, firing several times a minute and echoing along the vast frontline on the Shomali plain 40 km (25 miles) north of the city.


The shelling began about an hour after U.S. strikes.


Mullah Razek, commander of anti-Taliban forces at the front near the ruined village of Sari Sayad, said they were firing on Taliban troops who were leaving the capital for the front line.


The shells exploded near what appeared to be a line of vehicles travelling on a road out of the city.


The Taliban did not return fire. Razek said he believed they had withdrawn their heavy weapons from the front.
ADVERTISEMENT

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PARIS (AFX) - French president Jacques Chirac said French forces would particiate in the US-led military strikes on Afghanistan targeting the country`s Taliban regime.

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US MILITARY OFFICIAL - 15 BOMBERS, 25 STRIKE AIRCRAFT, 50 CRUISE MISSILES USED

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To America I say I swear by God the great... America will never taste security and safety unless we feel security and safety in our lands and in Palestine

Osama Bin Laden

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They supported murder so God has given them back what they deserve

Osama Bin Laden

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CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Osama bin Laden praised God for the terrorist attacks that toppled the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon and said the United States was ``full of fear,`` in a videotaped statement after the strike launched by the United States and Britain against Afghanistan on Sunday.

``America was hit by God in one of its softest spots. America is full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that,`` bin Laden said in the video shown Sunday on Al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite station.

The taped comments appeared to be made in daylight, which would mean that the video was made before the Sunday night attack on Afghanistan. Bin Laden was shown dressed in fatigues and an Afghan headdress.

After the attacks had begun, an official from Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban militia said that both bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar had survived the initial wave of the attack.

Bin Laden was shown dressed in fatigues and an Afghan headdress, sitting in a stone cave and flanked by two aides. It was the first time he has spoken himself about the Sept. 11 attacks, though he has issued denials of responsibility through intermediaries.

The video opened with an aide, the spokesman for bin Laden`s al-Qaida group, reading an opening statement.

``What happened in the United States is a natural reaction to the ignorant policy of the United States,`` said the aide, Suleiman Abu Gheit.

``If it continues with this policy, the sons of Islam will not stop their struggle. The American people have to know that what is happening to them now is the result of their support of this policy,`` the statement said.

``The war against Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden is a war on Islam.``

The Qatar-based independent TV network has been frequently airing exclusive footage of bin Laden, prompting the United States to raise concerns about Al-Jazeera`s coverage during a meeting with the emir of Qatar in Washington on Wednesday

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First priority is to control Afghan airspace: Rumsfeld

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AFX-Focus) 2001-10-07 20:59 GMT: Iran says US military strikes in Afghanistan `unacceptable`
TEHRAN (AFX) - Iran`s foreign ministry on Sunday said the US-led military strikes against Afghanistan were "unacceptable", state IRNA news agency reported.
vp/ob

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The Taliban is claiming to have shot down a US aircraft.

The Pentagon is not aware of any damage to the 15 bombers and 25 strike aircraft involved in the first wave of attacks.

There is speculation the Taliban could be referring to knocking out a Tomahawk cruise missile.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the initial phase of military operations against Afghanistan is designed to knock out Taliban air defences and aircraft.

This would "create conditions for sustained anti-terrorist and humanitarian relief operations in Afghanistan".

The Taliban has called the Allied military strikes a "horrendous terrorist action".

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef says the Afghan nation will rise against the aggressors.

The Afghan ambassador to Pakistan says the Taliban had chosen talks to get over the impasse over Osama bin Laden, but the US had chosen the military option.

Speaking at a brief press conference, Mullah Zaeef said: "America has chosen the military approach. This will unify our nation against the aggressors.

"The Afghans will rise against the new colonialists. We condemn this horrendous terrorist action."

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Security stepped up throughout US
US Vice-President Dick Cheney has been moved to an undisclosed location as a security precaution as the United States began military action in Afghanistan, the White House said.

Spokesman Ari Fleischer described Mr Cheney`s move as a "precautionary measure" similar to that in place after the September 11 attacks when the White House was believed to be a target.

"Just as three weeks ago various security steps were taken beyond what is normally done, that was done again today," Mr Fleischer said.

President George W Bush, who was at the White House and top US officials have been warning about the possibility of reprisal attacks against Americans over the military strikes in Afghanistan.

"The American people need to be alert. Threats do remain, and government and law enforcement agencies are taking all necessary precautions, but threats do remain. This is a war," Mr Fleischer said.


Civilian planes still flying

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said civilian planes were flying as scheduled but under tight security.

"They are flying normally, there is no change to air traffic," said FAA spokeswoman Marcia Adams.

"We are continuing to work very closely with the airport operators and air carriers to ensure the safety of the national air space system," she said.

Asked whether security had been ramped up in fear of reprisals, Ms Adams said she could not discuss such details

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Sunday rejected Osama bin Laden`s videotaped anti-American message, saying it was a reminder why President Bush had launched military retaliation for the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The Taliban and Osama bin Laden have said all kinds of things that are often at odds with reality, and in all cases it`s a reminder of why the president has brought together the world to fight terrorism so that freedom can prevail over fear," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Fleischer also said it was clear the message had been taped long before the attacks began.

"Obviously it was taped way in advance of this action and obviously it was put out for the purpose of giving people the impression that Osama bin Laden was speaking after the attack. Clearly it was night (when the attacks began) yet the videotape was broad daylight," he said.

As for bin Laden`s message, Fleischer said: "What he says is not as important as what he has done. He led an attack on our country, and our country is now in a multifront effort to do justice."

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)--The U.S and U.K. air strike on Afghanistan Sunday apparently included Herat in the western part of the nation, according to a reporter speaking on the Cable News Network.

Kamal Hyder, described as being somewhere in Afghanistan, reported a direct hit on a fuel depot at the Herat airport. Previous reports of attacks had focused on military targets near eastern Afghan cities of Kabul, Kandahar and Jahalabad.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires 07-10-01

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BAGHDAD (AP)--Saddam Hussein demanded Sunday that the U.S. show the world its evidence in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, saying accusations alone aren`t enough.

The Iraqi leader`s remarks were made in a Cabinet meeting before the day`s U.S. and British strikes on Afghanistan, Iraqi officials said. The comments were aired on state television after the strikes.

Iraqi television reported the U.S. and British attack minute-by-minute, denouncing it as "treacherous aggression."

Saddam accused Washington of following a policy of bribes and threats: "`If they do not give us what they want, we will bomb them."`

"They claim to have evidence that they have showed Pakistan...If they have evidence, why don`t they let the whole world see it to make their stand and rationale strong?" he asked. "Is just saying they have evidence enough in the future to start a war against a country?"

The Iraqi leader didn`t specifically refer to either Osama bin Laden, the Saudi dissident whom the U.S.suspects in the terror attacks on Washington and New York, or Afghanistan`s Taliban regime, which is sheltering bin Laden.

If suspects had been from a Western country, the U.S. "would have denied it even if all the angels came," Saddam said. "But when the accusation points at a Muslim or Arab country, they would believe it even if the accusation is made by one of the earth`s devils."

Noting U.S. President George W. Bush`s earlier statement that the world`s nations were either with the U.S. or with the terrorists, Saddam said, "This kind of logic will reduce the number of friends and increase the number of America`s enemies."

"Those claiming to be America`s friends are accused by their people," he added.

The Iraqi leader has referred repeatedly to the Sept. 11 attacks in a previous series of open letters, one of which told people in the U.S. their suffering should teach them about the pain the U.S. has inflicted on others, including Iraqis and Palestinians.

Iraq remains under U.S.-backed U.N. sanctions more than 10 years after its invasion of Kuwait. The U.S. lists Iraq as among state sponsors of terrorism, and some U.S. lawmakers and others have said Iraq should be a target of U.S. military strikes in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.

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Americans have begun reacting to news that military strikes have started on Afghanistan.

Cheers of USA, USA have echoed through the Atlanta Falcons` football stadium when they heard the news.

The president of the Mormon church was choked with emotion as he reported the strikes during a conference in Salt Lake City.

Gordon B Hinckley said: "Occasions of this kind pull us up sharply to the realisation that life is fragile, that peace is fragile, that civilisation is fragile."

A resident of the nation`s largest Afghan community, in Fremont, California, reacted with joy and apprehension.

"The good thing is I am happy they started," said Homayoun Khamosh, owner of the Pamir Food Mart. "And the bad thing is I don`t want civilians dead for nothing."

Tens of thousands of Americans heard the news while packed into stadiums for National Football League games and the close of baseball`s regular season.

The start of the Philadelphia Eagles` NFL game against Arizona at Veterans Stadium was delayed nine minutes as President Bush`s announcement of the strikes was shown on the big screen. The crowd of more than 64,000 cheered when they saw images of the military action.

At Miller Park in Milwaukee, baseball fans didn`t see Bush on the scoreboard, but subdued players watched on clubhouse televisions.

"We all knew it was going to happen," said Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Mike De Jean. "I think we all want to get home and be with our families in times like this."

In Chicago, Nora Murray, 30, heard the news while on the way to an opera matinee. She is worried that US strikes will draw retaliation.

"There`s more to come," she said. "I think fighting Afghanistan is going to be very difficult."

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NATO member Turkey gave its full support on Sunday to the US and British air strikes on Afghanistan as part of the international response to the September 11 attacks against the US. Advertisement

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"Turkey supports the US as a responsible ally and friend in its struggle against terrorism," Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said in a statement.

The statement was issued after a three-hour emergency meeting of senior politicians with military chiefs of staff and intelligence chiefs.

He said Turkey, NATO`s only member with a predominately Muslim population, had stepped up security at home and abroad and added he would seek meetings with opposition leaders on Monday.

Turkey, a close US ally on the edges of the Middle East for decades, has opened its air bases and airspace to US use.

Witnesses have reported heavy military cargo aircraft activity at the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, used by US and British warplanes for patrols of a no-fly zone over northern Iraq.

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TEHRAN (Reuters) - Fighting has broken out between Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban militia and residents of the western Afghan border town of Zaranj in the wake of U.S. strikes, Iran`s official IRNA news agency has said.


Quoting Afghan sources, IRNA some 150 Afghans had decided to capture the town from the Taliban. Zaranj, in the far southwest corner of Afghanistan lies on the frontier with Iran close to where the two countries` borders meet that of Pakistan.


A local Afghan opposition commander based in the nearby Iranian city of Zahedan, Haji Karim Barahouei, was rushing to the area, the agency said.


The region is dominated by the Baluchi ethnic group which lives in the remote arid region astride the borders of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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CHARIKAR, Afghanistan (AP)--The Afghan opposition launched an assault on the ruling Taliban militia from an air force base just north of the capital, in an attack coordinated with Sunday`s U.S.-led military action against Afghanistan.

Northern alliance forces that control the Bagram air force base fired multiple-rocket launchers at Taliban forces that control the surrounding mountains. The Taliban returned fire using Soviet-made BM-21 rockets.

The base is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the capital, Kabul, and the opposition has suggested it could eventually be used as a base for U.S. forces. The Taliban still dominates the high mountains around the base.

The opposition forces attacked Taliban positions at around 10 p.m. local time (1730 GMT), about an hour after the U.S.-led strikes against Afghanistan began.

The northern alliance, which represents the government ousted by the Taliban and other groups, and which controls roughly 5% of Afghanistan, has been fighting the Taliban for years.

In Washington, Haron Amin, the ousted Afghan government`s special envoy, said that the opposition would move to oust the Taliban from power.

"These strikes are only the initial phase of the coordinated plan between our forces on the ground and the strikes by the international community," Amin said in a telephone interview. "We hope that in a few days` time that we should be in a position to...mobilize our ground forces to liberate Afghanistan from the grip of the tyrannical rule of the Taliban."


Northern Alliance Knew Of US Attacks Beforehand - Envoy


In Tajikistan, northeast of Afghanistan, an opposition spokesman said the alliance knew that the U.S. intended to attack military targets in both the Afghan capital of Kabul and the city of Kandahar.
Asked about the immediate plans of the northern alliance, Afghan embassy official Rahimullah - who like many Afghans uses one name - said that the opposition could make an attempt to enter Kabul.

"The northern alliance is north of Kabul and will be involved in the fighting," Rahimullah told the Associated Press during an interview in front of the Afghan Embassy in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital.

When asked to be more specific, Rahimullah said: "Maybe two days, maybe a week. It`s a military operation, so I can`t specify."

He predicted that the fighters could make substantial advances in coordination with the air attacks. "We have a united front," he said.

The northern alliance uses Tajikistan, which shares a border with Afghanistan, as a diplomatic base. Supplies also flow to the alliance by way of that country.

Russian forces guard the Afghan-Tajik border, and Russia is sending military assistance to the anti-Taliban forces.

Before the strikes, the Taliban said they had sent thousands of troops to the border with Uzbekistan, whose president has allowed U.S. troops use of an air base for the anti-terrorism campaign.

The Taliban`s claims could not be independently verified. However, Russia`s Interfax news agency reported Saturday that Taliban troops had been moving long-range artillery and multiple rocket launchers toward the border. More than 10 guns and rocket launchers had moved within range of the Uzbek border town of Termez, Interfax said, quoting Afghan opposition sources.

The Taliban are estimated to have some 40,000 fighters - around a quarter of them from Osama bin Laden`s organization.

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US Warns Iraq Not to Take Advantage of Sept Attacks
By Evelyn Leopold



UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States has warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein not to take advantage of the crisis surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks, particularly toward its neighbors, diplomats reported on Tuesday.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte sent a message to Saddam on Sunday through his U.N. envoy, Mohammed Aldouri, who on Monday went to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations with a reply, the envoys said.

President Bush wanted to deliver a strong message to Saddam not to take advantage of the attacks on New York and Washington. One diplomat said Iraq had a history of ``making mistakes`` such as attacking Iran in 1980 and invading Kuwait a decade later. Baghdad then fired missiles against Israel during the 1991 Gulf War.

``To my knowledge the message was loud and clear and it was received loud and clear in Baghdad,`` the envoy said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.S. officials had no immediate comment and Aldouri did not respond to telephone requests.

Iraq is one of the few countries in the world that has not condemned the suicide attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington as well as the downing over a plane over Pennsylvania, in which more than 5,500 people are dead or missing, most of them in New York.

Aldouri told the U.N. General Assembly last week it would have been hypocritical for Iraq to do so in light of U.S. bombing raids against his own country and 11-year-old U.N. sanctions. But he said messages of condolences had been sent to individuals in the United States sympathetic to Iraq`s case.

In Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said the United States could target Iraq to settle old scores. U.S. officials have said there was no strong evidence to link Iraq to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Sabri was speaking before an emergency meeting of the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference after the United States launched a second barrage of air strikes on Afghanistan.

``It is a hope, more than an expectation, that Muslim countries should defend themselves and their religious values which are being targeted by the new U.S.-Zionist war campaign,`` Sabri told reporters.

``So, we hope these countries will reject these strikes...and call for one scale to be used to deal with terrorism and not 1,000 (scales), because if there is a list of terrorist nations then Israel should be on it,`` he said.

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Americans Taken Hostage Sue Iraq in U.S. Court
By Sue Pleming



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About 150 Americans held by Iraq in 1990 and used as ``human shields`` to deter allied air strikes in the Gulf War sued the Iraqi government on Tuesday in a U.S. court for tens of millions of dollars.

Lawyers representing the former hostages said the claims arose out of injuries sustained due to an order by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Aug. 2, 1990, immediately after Iraq invaded Kuwait, barring all U.S. nationals from leaving either country.

The case opened in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia on Tuesday before Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson.

Lawyer Michael Lieder, whose firm represents the ex-hostages, said the case was expected to last about four days and that 11 plaintiffs would take the witness stand to hold Iraq accountable for alleged human rights abuses.

The plaintiffs are seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages due to the emotional and financial injuries they say they suffered in Iraq.

Lieder said if the judge ruled in their favor, it was uncertain how possible damages would be recovered from the Iraqi government. An Iraqi government representative was not in court, he said.

The claim was brought under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) which allows suits against countries designated ``terrorist`` states by the State Department when those states perpetrated acts of terrorism against U.S. citizens, including hostage-taking.

In 2000 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that amended the FSIA to allow enforcement of judgements using frozen assets of countries on the terrorism list. However, this was limited to cases involving Iran and Cuba.

``President Bush has stated that the United States must punish not only terrorists but also the states that sponsor terrorists. Right now, terrorism is a cheap way for those states to pursue war against Americans,`` said Daniel Wolf, lead counsel in the case.

The House recently adopted a bill, called the Patriot Bill, that would enable victims of terrorism to enforce U.S. court judgements by collecting from the frozen assets of those states, including Iraq, said Wolf. The bill is now under consideration in the Senate.

Wolf said hundreds of Americans and other foreign nationals were required to congregate at specified locations and detained against their will.

American citizens found outside these locations were seized by Iraqi forces and taken to military installations and other strategic sites, where they were used as ``human shields`` to deter allied air attacks, he said.

While women and children were released in early September, the crisis did not end until mid-December when, under international pressure, the male hostages were freed.

U.S.-led forces drove Iraq out of Kuwait after a six-week war in early 1991.

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Italy, Germany Arrest Militants Tied to Bin Laden
By Emilio Parodi



MILAN (Reuters) - Police in Italy and Germany said Wednesday they had arrested three Islamic militants believed to have planned armed attacks with Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.

Italian judicial officials said police were seeking a fourth suspect in France in a swoop on a group of North Africans thought to have plotted attacks with bin Laden by telephone.

A fifth man already in prison near Milan will be charged along with the others with criminal association for the trafficking of arms, explosives and chemicals, they said.

Those arrested in Italy were Tunisians and the one in Germany was a Libyan. The suspect sought in France was believed to be Egyptian, the officials said.

Italian Interior Minister Claudio Scajola said the man arrested in Germany belonged to the bin Laden-linked ``Salafite Cell for Preaching and Fighting.`` Two members of the same group were arrested in Milan overnight.

The German prosecutor`s office and crime agency said the Libyan was arrested in Munich on an Italian warrant.

Scajola told reporters: ``The men of the subversive cell, which answered to bin Laden, who were picked up overnight in Milan, had been under police surveillance for some time.``

``The cell worked to recruit men to send to training camps in Afghanistan,`` the minister added. ``We cannot know if that heralded terroristic attacks, but we think we can exclude that.``

He said Milan magistrates had uncovered nothing that ``may lead one to think of terroristic attacks of a chemical type.``

The latest arrests stemmed from an investigation by magistrate Stefano Dambruoso, heading a case against five other suspected members of an Islamic guerrilla group believed linked to bin Laden, the officials told Reuters.

APRIL RAID

In April, police swooped on the five suspected militants in a dawn raid that authorities said had smashed the ``nerve center`` of an Islamic group intent on carrying out attacks across Europe and directly linked to Afghan training camps.

The United States has accused bin Laden of masterminding the devastating September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The man arrested in Germany was considered to be the leader of those seized in Milan.

The 50-page arrest warrant says he had had direct contacts with bin Laden, including telephone calls between March and April that were taped by investigators. These conversations included references to arms hidden in Afghan caves.

During some of the calls they appeared to discuss an imminent attack. ``Soon something major will happen,`` said a judicial official, quoting one of the taped conversations.

The man sought in France is thought to have shuttled between Italy and France, where there is believed to be a laboratory to test chemicals for use in arms, the judicial officials said.

The five arrested in April, all Tunisians, were part of a cell of 10 operating out of Busto Arsizio, a town about 20 miles northwest of Milan, authorities said at the time.

The man who was to be charged in jail as part of Wednesday`s operation was being held in Busto Arsizio, but it was not clear whether he was among those arrested in April.

PLANNED ATTACK IN STRASBOURG

Those arrested in April were suspected of being connected to a group that planned an attack in the central square in Strasbourg during Christmas holidays last year.

German police arrested two Iraqis, an Algerian and a Frenchman on December 26 in Frankfurt. A search of two homes later uncovered arms and explosives. The operation stymied the planned attack in Strasbourg, Italian officials said in April.

Italy has offered bases and troops for use in the U.S.-led response to the September 11 attacks, but these have not been used in this week`s U.S.-British air strikes on Afghanistan.

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WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes pounded Afghanistan for a fourth day on Wednesday as President Bush said ``no corner of the world will be dark enough`` to hide Osama bin Laden and his supporters, blamed for last month`s attacks on the United States.

Anti-aircraft fire flashed in the sky over Kabul and jets screamed overhead just before seven explosions rocked the city, witnesses said.

At least two bombs later fell at or near the airport in the north of the shattered capital, residents said.

In Washington, officials said troop-carrying and attack helicopters might join the campaign against the Taliban regime protecting bin Laden, prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks that killed at least 5,500 people.

The reports of possible escalation in the U.S. campaign followed signs that Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban was retreating on assertions that bin Laden would be free to use the poor, rugged land as a staging ground for more attacks on Americans.

``We have permitted Osama bin Laden only to issue statements,`` the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted Taliban Education Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as saying in a statement.

``But there is still a ban on Osama using Afghan soil for acts against any other country.``

A Taliban spokesman, Abdul Hai Mutmaen, earlier had said that bin Laden was now free to wage holy war on the United States.